It appears like Teddy Roosevelt slept here from the outside, but this cutting-edge platinum LEED-certified home is fresh. Highline Partners, Montana homebuilders which focus on sustainable building, constructed a rustic cabin that appears as though it might have been a trapper’s house 100 years ago, while meeting the customers’ desires to get a sustainable home. The group combined the best parts of vernacular structure with environmentally friendly motions, such as a pond that serves as a geothermal mass for warmth. “The house has been constructed with nature, sustainability and the surrounding environment in mind, while also hoping to look like a very old historic homestead,” says project manager Ty Frackiewicz. Erika Jennings of Carole Sisson Designs did the interior design.
in a Glance
Who lives here: Vacation home for a household of 5
Location: Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, Montana
Size: 2,200 square feet on 22 acres; 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
That is intriguing: When this home has been constructed, it had been one of only 3 platinum LEED-certified houses in the entire state of Montana.
Highline Partners
The atmosphere around the house includes old-growth woods, streams and a horse pasture. There are also outdoor trails for mountain biking, horse riding, snowshoeing, fishing and skiing.
Highline Partners
A huge part of the structure is this man-made pond, which is an element of a system of four ponds on the property. Its 20-foot thickness means it can serve as a geothermal mass which heats the home in winter, using very little energy. The man-made ponds are contained and are completely different from the natural landmark.
Highline Partners
Of course, the family enjoys the pond for recreation and the beautiful view. They could dive right in off the dock for swims, and it is stocked with trout for off-the-deck fishing.
Highline Partners
“We used a lot of reclaimed timber to keep the rustic feel; a few of these timber sources were from Montana and Wyoming snow fences,” says Frackiewicz. For many of you from warmer climates, snow fences are about 14 feet high and are utilized to keep snow drifts from crossing the roads.
“The plantations were standing dead beetle kill trees; those are trees which have been killed by the mountain pine beetle,” he says. “Also, a few of the logs were from the home.”
Highline Partners, Ltd
The rock is a local moss rock named Willow Creek; its ranch feel adds to the rustic aesthetic. Hand-forged steel straps around the ceiling beams add the other Western substance to the mix.
Highline Partners, Ltd
In reality, all the materials, both new and recovered, came from inside a 500-mile radius of this cabin. The floors are iron slate. The cabinetmakers (Integrity Builders of Bozeman, Montana) disassembled an antique hutch and repurposed it into the green cupboards.
Highline Partners, Ltd
“You will find unique features across the entire home. It’s historic bits, such as art and furniture,” says Frackiewicz. “The dining seats are all Thomas Molesworth reproductions from New West Furniture.” Molesworth has been an early-1900s Western furniture maker.
The light fixture is from local company Juliann Iron Originals. The carpets hung throughout the house are Navajo rugs from the couple’s collection.
Highline Partners, Ltd
The rustic toilet sink is made of a classic wooden noodle bread
bowl the couple brought from their previous home. Look at the mirror to see that a barn door crafted of reclaimed timber and metal.
Highline Partners, Ltd
All the reclaimed boards, logs and furnishings give the cabin a cozy, rustic feel. I’d love to curl up in here to get an après-skinap.
Other sustainable building practices outside materials along with the geothermal heating system included recycling 41 percentage of the building waste, making an envelope that’s 73 percent greater than an Energy Star–ranked home and including a 2-kilowatt solar array which supplies the home with electricity.
Highline Partners, Ltd
This barn houses the family’s five horses. The roofing is constructed from metal retrieved from neighboring ranches in Montana and Wyoming. “On the driveway, we utilized gravel instead of asphalt to keep the rustic, historic feel,” says Frackiewicz.
If you’re considering building sustainably but concerned about costs, Frackiewicz advises considering it this way: “To spend 1 to 3% on front and save 40 to 65 percent in operating costs is an excellent business decision and also a good legacy for your environment.”
Watch more guides to contemporary rustic design
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