MOLLIE Aspen

Replacing an aging structure, MOLLIE Aspen is a new 68-room boutique hotel with a vibrant community focused restaurant/bar and café, situated across from Aspen’s historic Paepcke Park and anchoring the corner of Garmisch & Main.

With a limited footprint, the design is thoughtful in its use of space. The program includes efficient, yet comfortable rooms ranging from 180- to 320-sf; a full-service restaurant and lobby bar to continue the tradition of après ski; a café/coffee bar providing a grab-and-go menu with comfortable seating; and a rooftop terrace connected to a cozy lounge delivering an all-weather, indoor-outdoor experience with views spanning from Aspen Mountain to Shadow Mountain.

Aspen has championed historic preservation since the 1970’s, with standards that honor history while cautiously allowing forward-thinking design solutions. It was of the utmost importance when designing MOLLIE Aspen to respectfully embrace the community’s values and unique environment to create a narrative focused on connecting the heritage of place and contemporary lifestyles. The Bauhaus movement had considerable influence on Aspen in the mid-20th century and has remained prevalent in Aspen, today. MOLLIE Aspen was an opportunity to champion the forward-thinking design heritage of this town, and craft a response that is both timeless and deeply rooted in Aspen’s attitude towards the built environment.

MOLLIE Aspen’s Main Street façade was conceptualized as a conversation between past and present, drawing inspiration from the historic thirty foot wide lot lines in Aspen’s West End. Opting for simple rectangular forms that slide north and south, the façade echoes the cadence of these historic plats fostering a visual connection with the surrounding architectural fabric and drawing an indelible connection to Aspen’s past. As the building transitions to meet its residential neighbors to the west, there is a deliberate step down in the massing to reflect the scale of the Victorian home next door, and by extension, the rest of the neighborhood. The vertical window openings pay homage to the proportions found throughout Aspen’s historic West End, subtly reinforcing the commitment to having MOLLIE Aspen belong in the neighborhood.

High-performing natural materials were selected to seamlessly integrate with the neighborhood and surrounding historical context. The primary materials, wood and brick masonry, were selected due to their durability and resiliency. The brick gives the building a solid base reflective of downtown Aspen’s commercial core. The color, dark and moody with hints of purple and red, was selected to recall the predominant rock formations of the surrounding Elk Mountains. The wood siding is milled from fast-growing, sustainably harvested Radiata pine by Delta Millworks, which has been thermally modified to promote stability and requires significantly less maintenance than traditional untreated wood siding. A vertical layup is applied in random widths in a subtle nod to the slenderness of aspen tree trunks.

The design approach prioritizes creating a high performing building that embraces wellness for all occupants. Efficient, comfortable rooms on a tight urban lot of just over .4 acres result in a density atypical for Aspen and other resort/rural communities—over 160 keys per acre. This higher density translates to a smaller carbon footprint per hotel room. All hotel rooms are heated and cooled with high efficiency cold weather electric air-to-air heat pumps, utilizing the 54.6 kW solar array on MOLLIE’s roof. Each room features a dedicated high-efficiency heat recovery ventilator for consistent fresh air and optimal indoor air quality. Windows, provided by Marvin Modern, contribute to an efficient building envelope without compromising views. Common spaces are ventilated with heat recovery ventilators, enhancing indoor air quality.