Tour a Ski-In, Ski-Out House in Big Sky, Montana, That Sleeps 21

The way New York City–based homeowners Arani and Shumita Bose tell it, their ski house in Big Sky, Montana, came to fruition during a coffee break. In 2015, seeking a quick winter vacation out West, where Shumita grew up and Arani went to medical school, they found themselves a bit more north on a recommendation from friends. “We had this incredible three days [in Big Sky] and kept going back” annually, says Shumita. “It felt like Colorado in the ’70s or ’80s before the big boom and that was really appealing.” On another trip three years later, while she was at a downtown café with her cousins, Arani disappeared into the real estate office next door. Soon after, the couple purchased the last remaining plot on a mountain at Moonlight Basin—a steep site at just over 8,300 feet elevation with spectacular views of the Spanish peaks and Madison Valley.

Though the Boses admit that they are not big skiers themselves, their two children and extended relatives enjoy the sport. “It made sense for our family; as much as a completely superfluous ski house can,” jokes Arani. Having worked with O’Neill Rose Architects on two previous residential projects, the homeowners knew principals Devin O’Neill and Faith Rose were the right choice to design this ground-up abode.

The site’s dramatic slope was reminiscent of a cantilevered house on a mountain in Japan that the Boses had been drawn to in a design magazine; they also wanted a place that felt unfussy and comfortable for large groups. After an unlucky flight diversion on his way to walk the lot for the first time, O’Neill took an ultimately inspirational two-hour drive and became acquainted with rural Montana’s architectural vernacular: mining structures and snow fences. “We wanted the house to be like those snow fences in a way,” he says, “to work with the land and to create spaces where you can engage the landscape.”

The result is a marriage of these ideas: a 10,500-square-foot home partly embedded in its mountainside with a roofline that climbs and descends to frame both mountain and valley vistas. In the sections not glazed with high-performance triple-pane windows, its upper levels are protected by wood screens charred in the Japanese shou sugi ban preservation technique. On the outdoor terraces, they hold back snow banks and catch glistening flakes.

“Giving a sense of the exterior as part of the interior of the house was also really important to us,” explains O’Neill. Silver Cloud granite flooring spans the outdoor entrance area and the entire first floor of the house. Large blocks of it also build a firepit’s amphitheater-style seating. His firm collaborated with woodworker Martin Nielsen of Ocular on custom ash millwork throughout the home, often fluted to recall the lodgepole pine trees that dot the surrounding landscape. A custom glaze by Made A Mano for the Basaltina tile in the primary bathroom (complete with a corner soaking tub) is meant to create “an evening sky on the walls,” the architect continues.