Dark-stained cedar planks cover a series of volumes that are stepped and rotated down a slope in a Utah forest, forming a house for architect Chris Price and his family.

Price designed and built the TreeHaus with his architecture and construction firm Park City Design+Build, which he founded with his uncle Matt Price in 2009, and now runs with architect Andrew Foster. Chris also enlisted his father to help with the project.

The main challenge was the residence's location on a steep hill in Park City, a popular ski resort east of Utah's capital Salt Lake City. The team resolved this by slightly carving out the hill to create space for four volumes stacked on top of one another.
"The 50 per cent slope was a daunting challenge in itself, and required delicate handling of the excavation," Price told Dezeen. "We adjusted the layout a bit on the fly to attain a better stepping sequence into the hillside without compromising the existing bedrock."
Each block steps back from the one below and changes orientation slightly to create a series of angled terraces at the front. Black metal railings front these balconies to match the vertical planks of the blackened cedar that clad the residence.

Price chose to darken the wood to blend with the tones of the surrounding trees, following the style of a number of other recently completed woodland homes, including a compact cabin in a Washington forest and a guest house in Texas.

"We wanted to build a home that f...