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Knob Hill
Sun Valley, Idaho
Type
Location
- Sun Valley, Idaho
Photography
- Matthew Millman
Just steps from downtown Ketchum, this home continues one family’s generational legacy in Sun Valley, Idaho. Designed as a year-round retreat for gathering and connection, the house reflects a desire to create something rooted in place yet refined in expression. Merging the warmth of traditional form with the clarity of modern design, the project honors the layered history of the site and the enduring bond between this family and the rugged Idaho landscape.
The home’s compact lot backs directly onto the small, iconic rise that gives the Knob Hill neighborhood its name. From the home’s elevated position, views extend to both Dollar and Bald Mountains, tracing the lineage of Sun Valley’s ski history. The location invited a design that balances privacy with openness, situating the house as a threshold between town and nature.
Working within a limited site footprint, the design maximizes open space by organizing the program into an H-shaped plan framing a central courtyard. Locating living spaces on the home’s upper level captures views and daylight, with the lower level holding the private and recreational areas. The southern bar of the “H” contains the social zones—kitchen, dining, and living—and opens to a covered outdoor terrace on one end and a pool and hot tub on the other. The northern bar holds bedrooms, office, and service spaces, creating a distinction between public and private realms. A glass-walled bridge acts as a transparent hinge, linking the two sides while allowing the landscape to flow visually through the house.
Materiality roots the architecture in its mountain context. The house sits on a base of Atlas Granite, its rough, irregular surface recalling the texture of boulders scattered across the surrounding hillsides. Above this solid foundation, a dark thermally modified wood siding introduces rhythm and texture, its refined grain counterbalanced by hemlock soffits and white oak interiors that introduce a sense of warmth inside. The gabled rooflines—two peaks that echo the twin hills rising behind the site—evoke the vernacular of alpine architecture while remaining streamlined and modern in detail.
Inside, a consistent millwork language ties the project together. Custom white oak cabinetry and paneling reinterpret traditional Shaker detailing through a contemporary lens, with mullioned divisions that mirror the home’s window language. The interiors, also designed by CLB, pair a warm, tactile palette with the cool tones of stone and steel, while art and lighting selections introduce moments of vibrancy and color. CLB selected all the furnishings for the home, incorporating contemporary pieces with clean, refined lines that still nod to the client’s more traditional roots. Highly customized furnishings emphasize comfort, quality, and craftsmanship, with an earthy palette that offers a quiet backdrop to the bright, graphic art collection. Natural materials, woven leather details, and wood-grain furnishings lend an approachable elegance that ties to elements found in the surrounding landscape. Multiuse spaces, such as a golf simulator that doubles as a gym, reflect a design approach that values flexibility and efficiency, making the home feel expansive despite its urban constraints.
Across its spaces, the home maintains a continuous dialogue with the outdoors, with many rooms enjoying views of the central courtyard or the mountains beyond. It is a home that connects to the landscape and family legacy of Sun Valley, resulting in a deeply personal, highly contextual place.
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