Contemporary architecture can bring to mind cold, soulless design. But that’s not how Mike Hartman and Julie Speer—CEO and Design Director of Hartman Homes, respectively—see it. “The clean-lined modern mountain style can be cozy when you use materials such as stone in organic colors and warm woods,” Speer explains.
This homey vibe was Hartman’s goal when he purchased a 20-parcel piece of land in Big Sky, Montana, to build an expansive mountainside house not far from his own home. Drawn to the land for its stunning views—“It’s a Sound of Music view,” he quips—the builder saw an opportunity to create an abode that reflected the rugged surroundings. “There are no trees blocking the vistas,” he notes. “So you can see the Spanish Peaks as well as Gallatin Canyon.”
Speer took Hartman’s vision and ran with it, using Buechel Stone’s Silver Patina Castle Rock as the jumping-off point. “It was the very first exterior element that I chose,” she says. “It was love at first sight, and I built the house finishes around that.” Speer found herself drawn to the stone’s warm tone—with hints of green and a subtle shimmer. She liked that it felt different from other, more orange options she had previously encountered in her search. “I drilled into that hue when choosing the siding colors that we paired it with, such as smoky and caramelly browns with bronze accents.”
To create a visual connection between the interior and exterior, Steer carried the Castle Rock inside as a waterfall feature on the lower-level fireplace, as an accent wall for the staircase, and—most notably—on the great room’s floor-to-ceiling fireplace. “If you can see a fireplace from outside, I want it to match the exterior stone,” she says. “In this home, the columns on the balcony push through the corners, so from the great room you’re seeing the same material inside and out.”
It is an architectural moment meant to draw one in, something that was pertinent to Hartman. “I was once told that architecture should create curiosity,” he says. “People should drive by and think, ‘What’s going on beyond that?’ Inside, you should want to see what’s around the next corner.”
