Situated in the high desert about 17 miles due east of Denver, Alta Piney Creek is a new residential community in Aurora, Colorado. The project is composed of a series of 3-story walk-up residential buildings and a clubhouse organized around a central main street. The residential units include one-, two-, and three-bedroom plans, and are designed with families and work from home accommodations in mind. Parking is accommodated through surface parking, tuck-under garages, and on-street parking along the main street to enhance the fully developed streetscape along with street trees, native landscaping, sidewalks and building entries.
Utilizing the main street as the primary organizing feature allows the masterplan to address the elongated proportions of the site, while giving the community a shared identity, internal connectivity, and sense of place sheltered from the adjacent toll road along its western edge. The amenities and leasing offices are co-located in the clubhouse, which, along with the pool and terrace, define the entrance to the community from the south. Co-locating the amenities opens the view across the three acres of wetlands to the east, to hundreds of miles of walking and biking trails.
The design of Alta Piney Creek is a contemporary interpretation of Colorado mountain vernacular architecture. The steep sloped roofs reference those of traditional regional buildings designed to shed the heavy snowfall. While the multi-peaked architecture is the rule in the area, the contemporary single slope expression, which also nods to the ever-present mountain silhouettes, is unique in the area, developed in response to the client’s desire to create a distinct and signature look for the community.
The material palette and finer details of the architecture were developed to create a warm and textured quality to the larger architectural moves. The use of masonry, stone, lap siding, and the natural colors drawn from the landscape contribute to the warmth and human scale of the architecture while harmonizing with the striking natural features of the high desert environment.
186 dwelling units
6 residential buildings, 1 Clubhouse
258 parking spaces
4,000 square feet of Amenity
