Story Marc Vassallo | Photography John O'Hagan | Styling Jan Gautro

Cooking Light's third FitHouse is nestled among native ponderosa pine and gamble oaks in Escavera, a community of 262 homes on 200 acres of rolling hills near Denver, Colorado. At Escavera, nearly half the land has been set aside as natural habitat, and a lifestyle that embraces the outdoors prevails.

The project's designer, Ken Pieper of Ken Pieper and Associates, has taken cues from the surrounding high plains to create a calm refuge for an active family. From its low-maintenance landscape of aspens, Russian sage, and buffalo grass, the house welcomes you in stages--first through a porte cochere, then into a serene foyer with a trickling water wall--never shutting off the outdoors.

The house and land are so well suited that the home, built by Caribou Custom Homes, earned "Built Green" designation from the nonprofit organization Colorado Built Green, which cited the home's extremely energy efficient heating and cooling system, its sun-tempering roof overhangs, and its use of durable, environmentally sound materials.
You don't have to live high in the mountains to benefit from this year's FitHouse because most of its ideas about ease, safety, healthy living, and ecological fitness make sense wherever you call home.

Location: Castle Rock, Colorado
Development: Escavera by Terrabrook
Builder: Caribou Custom Homes
Designer: Ken Pieper and Associates
Interior: Dianne Pieper, Ken Pieper and Associates
Kitchen Designer: Lee Woodall, CKD, CBD, affiliate ASID

Directions to Fit House:
The Fit House is located in Castle Rock, Colorado, between Denver and Colorado Springs.
Take I-25 to Founders Parkway (exit 184).
Drive East four miles.
Escavera is located off of Founders Parkway 1/4 mile north of Highway 86.
Turn west on Black Pine Drive.
Travel about 1/2 mile and turn right onto Saddleback Drive.
House is 2848 Saddleback Drive.
Parking is available in the community of Escavera