On a special half-acre lot in the heart of Boulder, a new home is beginning to take shape. It is defined not just by its architecture and landscape but also by the team building it. The Cedar Avenue project brings together an all-women leadership group spanning architecture, interiors, construction, and landscape, a first at this scale in the city.
“When you step onto the property, it feels like you're no longer in town–yet it's still just a short walk to everything,” says Tina Townsend Poole, Principal Managing Architect at Mosaic Architects + Interiors. Mosaic’s team shaped the home around a central courtyard, with public spaces oriented toward the street and private areas opening to the backyard. Smaller, more intimate rooms replace the classic “great room” model, reflecting the owner's desire for comfort and connection.
From there, the design extends into the landscape. “What I've enjoyed about this project is that it feels warmer and more naturalized,” says Julia Dullien, Associate and Landscape Architect at Marpa Landscape Architecture & Construction. “It blends into its surroundings in a way that's refreshing and very reflective of the owner.” She describes the home as whimsical, with a series of small moments: a breezeway, courtyard, wellness studio, and pathways that “create a sense of coziness. It's like a hug.”
On the construction side, Candice Hurowitz, Principal Owner of Minted Homes, is pushing performance as well as design. “It's got the pitched roofs and the beautiful wood siding, with reclaimed rusted metal on the garage roof. Every roofline will also be covered in solar panels to meet Boulder's sustainability requirements.”
What makes Cedar Avenue even more distinctive is how these firms work together. Mosaic, Minted, and Marpa have collaborated on projects for years, developing what Hurowitz calls “a simplified communication style.” Dullien adds, “Usually, the house is designed first, and then the landscape follows. This time it was iterative with both the architect and builder, which allowed for a lot more collaboration than you typically see.” Townsend Poole describes their approach as a shift from the traditional model: “Projects are often set up as a triangle–the owner, the design team, and the contractor–with walls between each. What we're doing is breaking down those barriers and working together from the start.”
For the team, working as an all-women group has been both natural and impactful. “I didn't actually realize it was an all-women team until we set up this meeting, because it just felt so natural,” says Dullien. That ease has been echoed across the project from the design studio to the job site.
“It should be normal, not extraordinary. It just makes sense,” says Hurowitz. “The home is typically regarded as a woman's domain. Historically, it's been men working on it, so it feels right to bring female energy into building it.”
That sense of purpose extends to the future. “I would also like to see more women in the field building things–being the craftspeople, being the artisans,” Dullien adds.
The Cedar Avenue home is still in its early stages, but the collaboration between Mosaic Architects + Interiors, Minted Homes, and Marpa Landscape Architecture & Construction has already set a precedent in both how the home is being built and who is leading the way.