TELLURIDE DECK TRANSFORMATION
CLIENT RELATIONSHIP
Daniele Perna Designs had previously completed the interior design of the client’s Upper West Side residence in Manhattan, establishing a design relationship that later extended to the client’s Telluride property.
THE INVESTIGATION
During an on-site meeting with a construction company reviewing DPD’s scope of work for the complete redesign and reconstruction of the elevated deck, the project entered a more detailed phase of examination.
The meeting was intended to clarify the proposed scope and establish the basis for a construction bid. The company involved at this early stage was not ultimately retained for the work.
While reviewing the deck and surrounding conditions, DPD began investigating a persistent water-intrusion issue affecting the residence. What emerged organically from the site review developed into a broader examination of the elevated structure, roof assembly, and adjacent construction.
Through that process, Daniele Perna Designs identified the source of the leak and traced the path of water intrusion into the bathroom and adjoining areas of the house.
That discovery expanded the project beyond the deck itself, revealing the need to address the aging roof assembly beneath it and, ultimately, the relationship between structure, exterior architecture, windows, interiors, lighting, materials, and landscape as one interconnected architectural composition.
REDEFINING THE DECK’S ARCHITECTURAL EXPRESSION
At the outset, Daniele Perna Designs explored complete demolition and reconstruction of the elevated deck.
Architecturally, the scale of the primary structural system—its substantial posts, beams, railings, and stair assembly—created considerable visual mass in relation to the finer detailing of the residence. The existing dark brown painted finish amplified that condition, causing the already robust timber construction to appear heavier, more dated, and visually disconnected from the house.
As estimates developed, the full implications of complete reconstruction became clear. The work would have required extensive demolition, structural engineering, permitting, and new construction, representing a substantially greater scope and investment than initially anticipated.
The broader design objective became one of architectural congruence.
The rear curtain wall and atrium, double-door assemblies, new aluminum-clad windows, existing exterior trim, and substantial deck structure needed to read as parts of a single architectural language. Through a unified approach to material, color, proportion, and detailing, DPD brought these visually disparate elements into a clearer relationship, allowing the rear elevation to read as a more coherent whole.
TRANSFORMATION THROUGH DESIGN
As the implications of complete reconstruction became fully understood, the project shifted toward a more measured architectural strategy.
Rather than pursue demolition for its own sake, DPD evaluated what could be preserved, what required replacement, and where design could fundamentally alter the perception of the existing architecture without sacrificing performance.
The structurally viable primary post-and-beam system was retained, while the deck was transformed through new materials, rebuilt stairs, architectural lighting, refined detailing, restoration, and a carefully developed color strategy.
The original deck surface was completely removed and replaced with Trex Transcend® Lineage® decking in Salt Flat, selected for its pale silver-grey palette and its ability to support the broader strategy of reducing visual mass while unifying the deck with the renewed white architectural elements.
Beyond its aesthetic contribution, the Lineage system brought long-term performance to the project through heat-mitigating technology, resistance to fading and staining, and a 50-year limited residential warranty—an important consideration within Telluride’s demanding alpine environment.
Both flights of stairs were rebuilt using the new decking system, with new detailing and materials integrated throughout.
The physical dimensions of the primary structural members remained unchanged, but their perceived architectural weight was dramatically reduced through color, material selection, proportion, and design treatment.
COLOR, MASS + VISUAL WEIGHT
Color became one of the project’s most consequential architectural tools.
DPD undertook an extensive color study using photorealistic design presentations, allowing the client to evaluate each direction within the context of the existing architecture and surrounding landscape.
Initial studies explored rosy and blue-toned palettes at the client’s request. Once visualized against the considerable scale of the deck structure, neither achieved the necessary architectural cohesion or sufficiently reduced its visual weight.
Although white is not a color DPD typically relies upon as a primary design device, in this instance it became the most effective architectural response.
Applied across the major posts, beams, railings, stair assemblies, window elements, and trim, the lighter painted finish allowed the substantial structure to visually recede rather than dominate.
The dimensions remained.
Their perceived scale changed.
LIGHT AS ARCHITECTURE
A comprehensive new lighting design was conceived as an integral part of the architecture.
Warm post-cap lighting traces the stair sequence, landings, and key transitions throughout the deck, creating a low ambient layer of illumination that defines circulation, reinforces structural rhythm, and gives the architecture depth and presence after dark.
The dining area required a different quality of light.
Two globe sconces were applied to the sides of a 55-inch privacy-wall post, providing a warmer and more functional level of illumination specifically for the dining table and evening use of the space.
The distinction between the two lighting systems was intentional. The post-cap lighting establishes atmosphere, rhythm, orientation, and ambient illumination, while the globe sconces provide the more concentrated and practical light required for dining.
DPD also developed a custom post-cap lighting application specifically for the project. Rather than relying upon a single off-the-shelf fixture, two separate elements—an architectural post cap and a complementary light fixture—were brought together as one unified assembly, proportioned to the existing posts and railing system.
The resulting detail is unique to the project, allowing illumination to become part of the architectural language of the deck rather than an accessory applied to it.
RESTORING THE ARCHITECTURAL ENVELOPE
The transformation extended beyond the deck.
Existing exterior window and trim elements that had become dark, weathered, and visually fragmented were renewed in white, reinforcing the broader strategy of architectural continuity across the building envelope.
On the third floor, the expansive master bedroom suite—incorporating sleeping, study, dressing, and bath areas—contained four deteriorated and leaking windows with rotting wood and failing operational mechanisms.
All four were replaced with triple-glazed, aluminum-clad WeatherShield windows, custom manufactured specifically for the residence to precisely fit the existing window openings.
The new units substantially improved both building-envelope performance and the architectural expression of this portion of the residence.
New interior moldings and a renewed paint treatment completed the intervention, integrating the windows into the architecture of the suite and establishing a cleaner, more resolved interior condition.
WATER DAMAGE + INTERIOR RESTORATION
The effects of the original water intrusion were addressed throughout the affected areas of the residence.
Interior surfaces compromised by the leak were repaired and restored, including the bathroom, which required complete repainting and renewal following the water damage.
What began as the investigation of an exterior failure therefore extended naturally into the restoration of the interior environments it had affected.
THE CAR PARK: SHELTER + REVEALING THE TIMBER
Beneath the elevated deck, the structure forms a covered two-car car park, an especially valuable functional element within Telluride’s demanding alpine climate. The complete replacement of the roof assembly above restored a fully weather-protected environment below, shielding vehicles from water intrusion and the accumulation of snow and ice during the winter season.
Within this sheltered space, the architectural treatment deliberately shifted.
The underside of the car park contains an existing old-growth timber assembly of distinctly different character from the substantial painted structure above. Tongue-and-groove wood construction and more finely scaled secondary timber framing connect into the larger primary beams and posts.
Rather than conceal or visually minimize this material, DPD chose to reveal and celebrate it.
The old-growth timber underwent a complete restoration. The wood was thoroughly sanded, years of water staining and deterioration were removed, and the timber was newly stained and finished to preserve its warmth, grain, and natural character while complementing the broader architectural palette.
Above, structural mass was visually quieted.
Below, the timber was allowed to speak.
THE OUTDOOR LIVING ENVIRONMENT
The existing jacuzzi was fully refurbished on its exterior and reintegrated into the renewed deck composition.
The outdoor environment was further developed through new dining and café settings, grilling elements, architectural lighting, and carefully coordinated materials and finishes.
Existing furnishings that already complemented the renewed palette were retained, allowing the space to evolve through a considered balance of restoration, addition, and selective reuse.
Rather than treating furnishings and architecture as separate layers, the outdoor environment was composed as an extension of the way the residence is lived in and experienced.
PERIMETER + LANDSCAPE EDGE
The perimeter fence became another element of the broader restoration.
Rather than replace sound existing material, the fence underwent a complete refurbishment involving extensive sanding, staining, and the application of a protective oil finish selected for durability within Telluride’s demanding alpine climate.
The renewed fence preserves the warmth and character of the original wood while contributing to the material continuity of the property and defining its relationship to the surrounding landscape.
LIVING DESIGN DPD
At the heart of the project is Living Design DPD—the design philosophy of Daniele Perna Designs.
Living Design DPD considers architecture, interiors, restoration, landscape, material, light, furnishings, building performance, and the way people inhabit a home as parts of one interconnected experience.
Architecture does not necessarily begin with a predetermined visual concept, nor does it end at the boundary between interior and exterior.
It evolves through investigation, observation, use, circumstance, and discovery.
In Telluride, the discovery of a leak led to an investigation of the roof.
The roof led to a reconsideration of the deck.
The deck opened questions of structural scale, material, color, lighting, windows, exterior architecture, interior restoration, furnishings, and landscape boundaries.
Each condition informed the next.
Rather than treating these interventions as unrelated improvements, DPD approached them as components of a single living composition—each decision influencing the character, performance, atmosphere, and experience of the residence as a whole.
FROM FAILURE TO TRANSFORMATION
What began as an investigation into water intrusion ultimately became a layered residential transformation: resolving long-standing building failures, preserving materials worthy of preservation, replacing elements that had reached the end of their useful life, reducing the visual weight of an oversized structural system, restoring original timber construction, strengthening the architectural envelope, and creating a more coherent relationship between the residence and the extraordinary Box Canyon landscape surrounding it.
The completed work constitutes a significant capital improvement to the property, strengthening both its architectural integrity and its long-term residential value through building-envelope improvements, exterior restoration, new windows, rebuilt deck elements, lighting, material upgrades, and renewed outdoor living spaces.
The result is not an erasure of the existing house, but an elevation of it—architecture made clearer, lighter, more functional, and more cohesive through a process of investigation, restoration, transformation, and Living Design DPD.