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A remote concrete and glass shelter rises off the Idaho desert floor

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This concrete and glass shelter nestled on twenty acres in Bellevue, Idaho is designed as a unique live/work studio for an artist by Olson Kundig Architects. Rising from the high desert floor against a dramatic backdrop of the Sawtooth Mountains, this 3,882 square foot house was designed to age gracefully. The structure has been built using concrete blocks, steel, and plywood.

Large windows on all four sides frame vistas of the changing scenery. A key element of Outpost is the long, rectangular โ€œParadise Gardenโ€, sheltered and separated from the high desert landscape by eleven-foot high walls. Within, the owner has planted roses, grapes, and espaliered fruit trees. Outpost is a residence and a studio/workshop.

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The entrance/ground floor is the office/studio as well as laundry, powder room, garage, and mechanical room. The second floor is the 25-foot open-plan living/dining public space. There is a deck off the living space. The third floor is the main bedroom suite.

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What We Love: This concrete and glass shelter provides a remote location for an artist to inspire creativity in the most magnificent surroundings. Walls of expansive glass soak in the beauty of nature and the nearby rugged mountains while flooding the interior living spaces with natural light. Overall, we are loving the unique design of this structure and how idyllic it is for someone that wishes for a place to reside away from urban living.

Tell Us: What do you think of the overall design of this artist’s live/work home? Let us know in the Comments below?

Note: See a couple of other incredible home tours that we have featured here on One Kindesign in the state of Idaho: Prefabricated Cabin by FabCab on Lake Pend Orielle, Idaho and Woodland chalet imbues rustic elegance in Idahoโ€™s Sun Valley.

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Interior finishes include unfinished recycled fir floors, walls, and cabinets; plaster made from natural clays and pigments; and Carrara marble kitchen counters. Other materials used in the structure, including the concrete block, car decking (structural tongue-and-groove material), and plywood, require little to no maintenance and are capable of withstanding the extreme weather that can characterize the desertโ€™s four seasons.

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The shelter is designed around one open, multifunctional room that is overlooked by a mezzanine bedroom, with a separate studio/office and utility spaces on a lower entry-level. Elevated above the ground (snowpack in winter), the main living levels have 360-degree views of the surrounding high desert and mountains. In a windy environment, the enclosed garden provides protection to develop a cultured space. Nothing outside the walls is modified.

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PHOTOGRAPHER Tim Bies Photography

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