Solaris Residences Vail Building, Colorado Residential Design images, BCA Architect, Peter Knobel

Solaris Residences Vail : Colorado Residential Project

American Architectural Development design by Barnes Coy Architects, USA

Aug 4, 2010

Barnes Coy Architects Designs New Solaris Residences In Vail, Colorado

Vail Building

At the New Center of Vail Village, Modern Alpine Structure Adds Regional Character to Ski Town

image courtesy of architects practice

Solaris Residences

VAIL, CO – Barnes Coy Architects, designers of innovative residential projects in the US and abroad for over twenty years, announces the completion of Solaris, a 79-unit mixed-use lifestyle center in the heart of the famed skiing community of Vail, Colorado, set to open in August 2010. Bringing to life the vision of developer Peter Knobel, architects Robert Barnes, Chris Coy, and project architect Christopher Clay have created a building whose planning, interiors, and amenities—including restaurants, movie theaters, bowling, ice-skating rink and more—will make it a new focal point for the area, yet whose visual appeal makes it a natural compliment to the storied resort village.

The building design and materials were developed with careful consideration for their Rocky Mountain context and Vail Village surroundings. Barnes Coy’s concept began with the realization that Vail, a community created in 1962 to house and feed transient winter tourists, did not have a proper city center, a public place analogous to a town square. The architects’ first imperative, then, was to re-order Vail’s urban image and pedestrian flow by creating a public plaza with a skating rink at its center. Terraced, curving shopping “streets” help make this new plaza the town center Vail has always been missing.

pictures received 040810

A forward-looking hybrid of the European Alpine design heritage and more contemporary forms, Solaris weds the timeless beauty and charm of the ski chalets and village centers of Austria and Switzerland with a modern sensibility and the most up-to-date building technology. Solaris’ modern interpretation of vernacular Alpine design reflects features of the Craftsman Revival style: architectural details bear the mark of handcraftsmanship, while exposed beams and rafters turn construction details into built-in ornamentation that grounds the design. The exterior and interior details are carefully composed and controlled, and they tie the building into the historical log-and-timber tradition of the Rocky Mountain West.

The prime objective of the interior design was to bring the mountain views inside the building. A huge window in the bar/restaurant area of the lobby faces the main ski cliff beyond. The stone walls on either side of the window recall the canyon walls characteristic of the Colorado landscape. Deep within the building, the spa and indoor pool area evoke traditional Native American vapor caves, like the famous Glenwood Springs cave not far from Vail; the spa’s walls and floors are also of stone, with diffuse and invisible sources of light hidden in the scalloped ceilings.

In front of Solaris, the building’s most prominent public feature is the elegant and inviting half-acre public plaza, designed to be a natural terminus of the axis from the International Bridge that carries skiers returning from the slopes over Gore Creek. Discreetly hidden underground public parking and high-end storefront retail around the long, arcing, rusticated stone base of the structure are bound to make Solaris a defining feature of the Vail streetscape, an urban anchor perfectly in tune with the casual luxury that defines the Vail lifestyle.

Barnes Coy Architects

Barnes Coy Architects (BCA), founded in 1982, has realized over 250 projects in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. With offices in Vail, New York City, and Bridgehampton, NY, the firm’s design approach revolves around a simple and consistent philosophy: attention to detail.

Robert Barnes and Christopher Coy engage in every step of the design process. Forms are generated through careful analysis of the site and of the individual requirements of the client. The interaction between designers, clients, context and program inspires original design responses that make each project interesting and unique. The core belief behind the firm’s success in achieving the highest standard of execution is that no one cares more about the project, including its owner, than its architects.

Solaris Residences Vail images / information received Aug 2010

Location: Vail, Colorado, USA