
Breckenridge, Colorado
Merit Award: Wolff Lyon Architects, Boulder, CO (303/447-2786)
Challenge: Persuade the town to adopt denser development on an 85-acre site originally zoned for four large residences and design a community that’s child-friendly, walkable, affordable, and authentically tied to its region. The land consisted of dredge piles left over from mining operations.
Solution: Developer David O’Neil and architects Tom Lyon and John Wolff spent three years convincing authorities that the Wellington Neighborhood, a carefully designed scheme for 122 mostly single-family residences, would enhance the town and avoid sprawl. It feels like a Currier & Ives village come to life. More than 70 freestanding two-story houses in six configurations ― from two-bedroom duplexes of 1,000 square feet to four-bedroom dwellings of 1,800 square feet ― have been built so far.