LIFE BEYOND FIRST CLASS
DESIGN & ARCHTIECTURE
BIG SKY ONE
A thoughtful collaboration between Richard Beard Architects and Kelly Hohla Interiors transforms Big Sky One into a lighter, more contemporary mountain retreat shaped by clarity, comfort, and expansive views.
LEIGH SMYTH
PHOTOGRAPHY: PAUL DYER
For more than three decades, Richard Beard Architects has been recognized for a quietly refined architectural language that balances clarity of form with a deep respect for landscape and context. Founded by Richard Beard, the firm is known for its residential work throughout the American West, where restraint, proportion, and material honesty guide projects that feel both timeless and distinctly of their place. Rather than imposing architecture onto a site, the studio’s work consistently seeks alignment, allowing views, light, and terrain to shape the experience of the home.
Complementing that architectural sensibility is Kelly Hohla Interiors, a studio celebrated for its nuanced approach to contemporary interiors. Kelly Hohla’s work is defined by clean lines, layered textures, and a sophisticated understanding of how color, material, and light interact over time. Her interiors are never overly prescriptive; instead, they are composed to feel calm, livable, and responsive to the rhythms of daily life, particularly within mountain and coastal settings.
PROJECT TEAM
Architect:
Richard Beard Architects
Interior Design:
Kelly Hohla Interiors
Structural Engineer:
DCI Engineers
Contractor:
OSM Construction
Original Architect:
Locati Architects & Interiors
Their collaboration comes together at Big Sky One, a residence located within the private enclave of the Yellowstone Club, overlooking the vast expanse of the Rocky Mountains. Designed originally in 2007, the home was engaged by a Bay Area–based couple seeking respite from urban intensity. Their request was direct and unambiguous: to refresh the residence with lighter, cleaner lines and a more contemporary sensibility, without losing its connection to place.
The architectural intervention began with a strategic two-story addition that introduced a greater sense of volume and ease throughout the four-bedroom home. This expansion allowed the plan to breathe, creating new functional spaces including a generous ski-in mudroom and a breakfast nook that subtly reshapes daily rituals. These additions are not overtly expressive, but instead reinforce the home’s overall composure and flow.
View corridors became a central focus of the redesign. In the living room, a newly introduced window reframes the valley beyond, transforming what was once an underutilized vantage point into a defining feature of the space. Similarly, the removal of an oversized outdoor fireplace on the veranda restored a previously obscured sightline, allowing the surrounding landscape to reclaim its visual prominence.
Inside, Kelly Hohla Interiors led a comprehensive material refresh that lightened and modernized the home. Heavy beige tones and dark oak finishes were replaced with a soft, neutral palette that allows stone, glass, wood, and steel to read more clearly. Painted millwork and rebalanced textures lend the interiors a quieter presence, while subtle contrasts add depth without visual weight. In the kitchen, a graphic backsplash replaces dark tile, and a custom-designed island improves circulation
while anchoring the space.
The primary suite follows this same philosophy of restraint and calm, with pale grey tones and natural stone creating a spa-like atmosphere. In contrast, the breakfast nook intentionally retains a darker mood, its walls clad in reclaimed barn wood, a nod to the region’s agricultural heritage and a reminder that warmth and modernity can coexist.
The primary suite follows this same philosophy of restraint and calm, with pale grey tones and natural stone creating a spa-like atmosphere. In contrast, the breakfast nook intentionally retains a darker mood, its walls clad in reclaimed barn wood, a nod to the region’s agricultural heritage and a reminder that warmth and modernity can coexist.
Together, Richard Beard Architects and Kelly Hohla Interiors have shaped a mountain retreat that feels refreshed rather than reinvented, where architecture and interiors work in quiet alignment to elevate daily life against a monumental landscape.
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