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At this Dramatic Home in Aspen, Colorado, a Powerful, Minimalist Aesthetic Goes Head to Head with Mountain Views

Designer Lexi Zavad plays up the inventive architecture of Stephen Moser, turning angles and planes into the ultimate backdrop for a thoughtful curation of art and design

By Vicky Lowry Photography by Douglas Friedman Styled by ANITA SARSIDI
Modern living room with large windows overlooking autumnal forest and mountains. Cozy furniture and stylish decor.
An oak plank ceiling with exposed Douglas fir beams tops a glass-enclosed living room in an Aspen home designed by Stephen Moser Architects with interiors by Lexi Zavad. A Flexform sofa and armchairs by Cassina surround a Stefan Bishop cocktail table from Ralph Pucci. The 1970s chaise is by Oscar Niemeyer.

When the property is six acres of sublime, untouched land on a forested hillside in Aspen, overlooking Colorado’s colossal mountain peaks, shouldn’t the architecture of the home there be just as soaring?

Stephen Moser thought so. The East Coast architect, who designed luxurious residences and retail spaces at Peter Marino Architect before launching his own practice in 2013, may have been inspired by birds of prey flying overhead when he conceived this sleek, chevron-shaped house in timber and glass for his client Jean-Pierre Conte, a San Francisco–based finance executive with four children. “You know the old saying about Aspen,” says Conte. “You come for the skiing; you stay for the summer.”

Luxury villa patio with lounge chairs, infinity pool, and view of autumn trees in the background.
Landscape architect Michael Boucher collaborated with Stephen Moser on the terrace, where the swimming pool features a gray exposed aggregate finish designed to evoke a reflecting pool. The lounge chairs are by Marmol Radziner, and the poufs are by Paola Lenti.

The steeply sloped terrain was a challenging site on which to build the 14,800-square-foot house, completed in 2025. The team utilized hydraulic jackhammers to split the rock and excavate the foundation. “There was no water, no sewage, no electricity,” Conte recalls.

Modern wooden interior with vaulted ceilings, a central tree, dark green seating, and a sleek dining table with chairs.
In the dining area, the custom Pieter Maes table is from Les Ateliers Courbet, the Mario Bellini chairs are by Cassina, and the banquette cushions are in a Liaigre fabric and paired with Holly Hunt alpaca pillows.
Modern living room with beige sectional sofa, abstract rainbow artwork, and unique sculpture on side table.
A Morris Louis artwork animates the den, where the sofa is covered in a Liaigre fabric and the table lamp is by Nacho Carbonell.

Moser’s elegant design follows the contours of the property—from the house’s asymmetrical V-shaped footprint, featuring two gabled wings that meet to form the entrance, to outdoor stone terraces and a pool that shimmers below. “I was interested in the 19th-century mining structures on steep slopes that you used to see in Aspen,” Moser explains. But any vestiges of the past are left firmly outside the front door.

For the interiors, Conte enlisted Lexi Zavad, a San Francisco decorator who trained with Nicole Hollis before establishing her own firm six years ago. Zavad’s intention was to infuse warmth, subtle colors, and a light touch with furnishings amid the
rigorous, modern architecture and Conte’s collection of contemporary artworks—a judicious array that nonetheless covers almost every imaginable art medium, from handweaving to LED lights.

Modern interior with large black wall sculpture, wood-paneled ceiling, sleek wooden bench, and staircase in the background.
An Ellsworth Kelly sculpture hangs above a custom Vincenzo De Cotiis bench in the entry, where a Leo Villareal site-specific light installation is integrated into a wood-slat wall. The granite flooring is from Stone Source.

The entry is like a haiku composition, composed of just a few elements but coming together in harmonious union. A slender bench of recycled fiberglass and silvered brass by Vincenzo De Cotiis gleams beneath Ellsworth Kelly’s black-painted aluminum sculpture resembling a capital C. “For me, it’s a bold New York piece,” says Conte, who began collecting art in earnest in 2011. “I’m from New York, and it conjured up my roots.”

A mesmerizing light installation by Leo Villareal illuminates a wood-slat wall. “I knew I was going to put up Leo’s piece before I built the house,” adds Conte, who is friends with the artist. “It’s alive. It’s an algorithm that never repeats. Sometimes it’s calming and thoughtful; other times it’s extreme. You walk in and—bam!”

Modern dining area with wooden beams, black chairs, round table, and red wall art under natural light from a large window.
In the den, an Alexander Calder mobile surmounts a bespoke game table by Robert Pluhowski, the vintage chairs are by Angelo Mangiarotti, and the custom rug is by Woven.
Modern attic office with a large window, cozy gray sectional sofa, abstract art, desk, and wooden shelves with books.
In the office, a Raphael Navot desk from Friedman Benda is paired with a custom sectional in a Bisson Bruneel fabric, and the artwork is by Emerson Woelffer.

In the upper-level living room, Zavad selected a mélange of furnishings that are low-slung, curvaceous, and mostly monochromatic so as not to disrupt the compelling views. She grouped a 1970s chaise by Oscar Niemeyer with Cassina armchairs covered in a cozy alpaca bouclé and a deep sofa by Flexform. Hand-carved stools by Carol Egan from Maison Gerard flank the custom-designed fireplace, crafted from irregular facets of black limestone. An undulating cocktail table by Stefan
Bishop is carved from slabs of ridged Douglas fir. “I didn’t want the room to look cluttered,” Zavad says. “I wanted to let each piece breathe in the space and hold its ground.” Her client, she adds, “lives a very warm, family-oriented life. I didn’t want anything in the home to feel too precious, even the things that are precious.”

Modern bathroom with wooden accents, marble countertops, large mirror, potted plant, and window view of nature.
The primary bath’s custom floating vanity is in Aspen gray marble and European oak, and the stool is by Blackman Cruz.

Understated treasures reveal themselves throughout. A circa-1962 wire sculpture by Ruth Asawa hangs above a built-in log storage unit and banquette, tucked under the sloping beams at the far end of the living room. As a teen, the Japanese American artist was incarcerated with her family in internment camps in California and Arkansas. Conte says the piece reminds him of his parents. “My mother left Cuba at a young age, and my father fled war-torn France, both overcoming profound hardship in their lives,” he says. “To me, Ruth’s artwork shows the incredible beauty one can create even after overcoming the most harrowing of experiences.”

A monumental bas-relief textile work by Sheila Hicks, spanning the wall of the lounge on the main level, also speaks to Conte, whose father started out as a tailor and had a long career in menswear and whose mother was a professional seamstress. “When I saw that piece, I pounced on it,” he says. “It looked like all the textiles, threads, and clothing in our basement growing up.”

Modern bedroom with wooden interior, large windows, mountain view, cozy bed, abstract art, and comfortable chairs.
In the primary bedroom, which has a view of Aspen Mountain, the Ethan Stebbins bed, with a hair-on-hide headboard designed by Zavad, is from Les Ateliers Courbet, the vintage chairs are by Sergio Rodrigues, and the rug is by Rosemary Hallgarten. A Kenneth Noland painting punctuates a wall clad in plain-sawn European white oak from BoardHouse.

In the oak-lined primary bedroom, apart from a striking canvas by Kenneth Noland—one of several works by Color Field artists that he owns—the most dramatic element is the ever-changing visual display of Aspen itself. “The real art,” Conte
emphasizes, “is the beauty of nature.”

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2026 Fall Issue under the headline “High Level.” Subscribe to the magazine.

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