A Park City Mountain Home by K. Rocke Design

The design of a mountainside home in Kamas ensures that nothing distracts from a sense of style and comfort—or the breathtaking views 

Striking an angular outline across the mountain sky, this new Kamas home makes a boldly modern statement in stone, glass and wood. Inside awaits an ode to refined-yet-relaxed living that celebrates the home’s remarkable setting and its owners’ minimalist leanings.

“The whole point was to capture the views,” says architect Clayton Vance, who teamed up with designer Kristin Rocke and builder Cameo Homes to create the 6,500 square-foot oasis located in the private Tuhaye golf community. Nestled high into the side of a mountain, the dwelling enjoys views of the Jordanelle Reservoir, Mount Timpanogos and Deer Valley. Taking his cues from the terrain and thoughtfully placing the house so that views and natural light flood the interior, Vance created a dynamic dwelling crowned with a series of shed roofs that echo the rhythmic peaks of the surrounding ranges. “Modern architecture really shines in the mountains,” Vance says. 

The architect describes the home as mountain modern: a contemporary dwelling with expansive windows and broad sliding doors that open to spacious decks and covered patios fostering indoor/outdoor living on the home’s two levels. Vance orchestrated an experience from the get-go. When visitors step inside the front pivot door, they’re immediately hit with the stunning alpine scene out back, courtesy of four large windows set opposite the entrance. “I wanted to deliver a burst of light and views of nature as people walk into the house,” he explains. 

At the interior’s core is the great room, with its 15-foot-high vaulted ceiling, jaw-dropping mountain vistas and a monolithic stone fireplace. Throughout the home, Vance used high ceilings to create a sense of openness and grandeur, making spaces feel larger and airier, while also adding lower ceilings to produce a cozy, intimate atmosphere. Larger volumes foster social interaction, while smaller ones offer private retreats. 

Scale ensures comfort and functionality, balancing open space and furnishings. Additionally, Vance sequenced rooms from public to private, guiding the transition from shared, communal areas to more secluded, personal spaces. By thoughtfully composing these elements, Vance guides the emotional journey from awe in the view-laden entry to luxurious comfort in a secluded suite. “Architecture isn’t just a building; it is where we live our lives,” he explains.

Nodding to the architecture, Rocke pulled materials and finishes from the exterior to foster continuity and to “bring the outdoors in,” she explains. In the great room, this meant a towering fireplace featuring exterior stones: sandblasted blocks of limestone serve as the cantilevered mantel and hearth, while towers of stacked, chiseled Timpanogos limestone bookend the feature’s honed limestone-clad chimney form that extends to the 15-foot-high vaulted ceiling. The same stones recur on the lower level fireplace, as well. “Fireplace design is so important,” Rocke exclaims. “It can set the tone for the rest of the interior.” The designer also pulled from the wood-clad exterior, repeating the tongue-and-groove cedar on the great room’s ceiling as well as on the office’s see-through fireplace, only with a more refined finish “to make the interior wood a little cleaner,” she says. 

Rocke also responded to the architecture’s bold geometry by infusing slants, tilts and obtuse angles through furniture, fixtures and patterns. A criss-cross base anchors the dining table, while intersecting lines animate the great room’s rug and bathrooms’ stone floors. Even the baseboards angle to the walls. Likewise, irregular angles shape the lower level’s wedge-shaped bar and wine room. “The architecture is very dynamic, so the use of angles help maintain that energy throughout,” Rocke says. 

Contrast also drives the decor’s vitality, which was crucial given the homeowners’ achromatic leanings. “They are minimalists by nature and don’t really love color in their home,” Rocke says. With that in mind, the designer created a palette of disparate materials, textures and neutral tones to deliver depth and drama. In the kitchen, for example, the designer conjured contrast by teaming two-tone gray cabinetry, a cold-rolled steel hood and light, polished Azure quartzite countertops and slab backsplash. The primary bathroom is also a lesson in contrast, with its black hardware, Cristallo quartzite countertops, driftwood-toned cabinets and a labyrinth- patterned floor of terrazzo and marble pieces. “The materials telegraph the sense of color and character,” she explains. 

While the owners prefer a minimalist style, there was room for a little sparkle. Tilted loop light fixtures with pearlized globes dangle above the great room, faceted sconces flank the primary bathroom mirror and “super luxurious” silk and metallic ombre panels bedazzle the primary bedroom’s headboard wall. “It’s the icing on the cake,” Rocke exclaims. 

The team created the home’s spaces to cater to various lifestyle needs, enhancing livability. Ideal for entertaining, the great room’s large living area exudes a welcoming, relaxed sophistication with its low-profile, don’t-block-the-views seating, texture-rich textiles and a plush rug. Rocke chose large-scale sectionals to simplify the furniture arrangement, rather than “having a multitude of chairs and sofas,” she explains. A grid of four separate coffee tables fills the center of the sitting area and, like the facing sectionals, maintains an opening down the center to ease flow and to provide unfettered fireplace views from the kitchen. “The center axis allows people to move around freely,” she says.  

A smaller, window-front sitting space invites more intimate conversations near the entry and, downstairs, a laid-back conversation area serves the nearby bar. There, Rocke flanked the stone fireplace with 3-D vertical wood slats that she cleverly turned like slightly-opened vertical louvers. Once again, angles and natural materials. The designer explains, “They’re the threads that tie the design together, inside and out.”