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When HBO’s Mountainhead premiered here in Park City, it wasn’t just a captivating satire—it was a conversation starter. The real star of the series? A sweeping, sculptural estate carved into the ridgeline. Towering in scale, cinematic in presence, and meticulously detailed, the home sparked a question we couldn’t ignore:
What does it really take to build something like that?
Not just technically, but emotionally, financially, and creatively.
At Open Range, we’ve spent years navigating these questions across dozens of projects in the Wasatch. And while we’ve built bold homes in challenging terrain before, Mountainhead raised the bar. It also allowed us to reflect on what we’ve done, what we’d refine, and where we’re headed.
The Land Tells the Truth
In Mountainhead, the site is everything: steep, snowy, and exposed. At Open Range, we’ve faced similar challenges in projects like Red Hawk Ridge and Canyon Crest, where the slope dictated everything, from structural design to material staging.
The difference? We front-load the friction. Site analysis is our first creative move. While the Mountainhead home leaned into its site with brute-force ambition (and the budget to support it), we approach site selection as a balance of beauty and buildability. We want your view to be breathtaking, and your foundation to make sense.
Design as Mountain Logic
The Park City home in Mountainhead solves complexity with elegance. It features cascading floor plates, intelligent rooflines, and seamless indoor-outdoor transitions.
We’ve executed similar principles in homes like Silver Pine, where a tiered plan followed the ridgeline and deep overhangs managed snow without blocking light. However, where we differ is in how early design aligns with budget.
At Open Range, we design with the whole build team in the room. We don’t just hand off drawings and hope it works. We model performance, cost, and constructability from the beginning. That’s what turns high design into high function.
The Cost of Bold
Let’s be honest: the Mountainhead home wasn’t built with cost constraints. But most of our clients—visionary though they may be—care about budget.
In past builds, such as Juniper Bend, we delivered bold design with a disciplined strategy. Early budgeting helped us avoid over-engineering and rework. In contrast, Mountainhead’s scale suggests a “build at all costs” mindset. That’s not our model. We believe big ideas deserve sober planning. We champion ambition, but only when it’s aligned with execution.
Construction in Harsh Realities
We’ve built through blizzards, spring thaws, and wildfire smoke. We’ve coordinated crane lifts over narrow canyons and staged materials across five elevations. It’s not glamorous, it’s gritty.
Mountainhead clearly shows that construction in this environment isn’t for the faint of heart. But what we’d do differently is integrate the construction strategy even earlier. Our Whisper Ridge project taught us that earlier construction informs design, resulting in a smoother process. We don’t separate design and build. We sync them from day one.
Landscaping as Completion
The Mountainhead home is visually stunning, but landscaping in the show feels like an aesthetic gesture. At Open Range, we see it as the final structural act.
In Aspen Hollow, we employed terracing, native plantings, and heated hardscapes for beauty and performance, managing snow, controlling erosion, and connecting the home to its surroundings.
We build landscapes that belong, that age well, that restore as much as they sculpt. That’s where Mountainhead could have gone deeper—and where we already do.
What We’d Do Differently
The Mountainhead home is unforgettable, but it’s also a production. At Open Range, we build for real life.
What we’d do differently:
- Marry vision to feasibility earlier
- Align design and budget from the start
- Integrate construction strategy before ground breaks
- Deliver landscapes that ground the architecture, not just frame it
We don’t build houses. We build experiences—shaped by land, grounded in trust, and scaled to last. If Mountainhead is the fantasy, we’re here for the reality. And it can be just as breathtaking.
If you're inspired by Mountainhead's grandeur and envision a home that embodies luxury and harmony with nature, Open Range is here to bring that vision to life. Let's embark on this journey together and craft a residence that is a testament to your legacy.
Contact us today to begin your 'Mountainhead' journey.
— Molly
CEO, Open Range