The Ursa House

SW Montana
Built into the mountainside near Red Lodge, Montana, this home follows the natural slope of the land. Regional stone, weathered cedar, and steel root it to the hillside, while a single shed roof lifts toward the Beartooth Range. Cantilevered decks extend from the main volume, merging architecture and terrain.

Interior Design
Alice Cramer Interiors

Builder
On Site Management

Landscape Architecture
Field Studio Landscape Architects

Photography
Audrey Hall

03-URSA
14b-URSA
After years of envisioning their ideal retreat, the clients wanted a home that balanced modern clarity with a lived-in mountain character. A three-sided fireplace unites open gathering spaces, and private wings extend into the slope for protection and privacy. Each elevation responds to light, view, and wind—creating a structure that feels intrinsic to its site and enduring in its simplicity.

As featured in Mountain Living Magazine, 2021

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LARRY PEARSON

Larry Pearson
Founding Principal

University of California, Santa Cruz

Larry Pearson loves to ask questions. His favorite ones start with the same word: “How.” How do we define yet integrate space: space for solitude, space for family, space for friends? How do we tie the lines of architecture to this natural backdrop? How can we authentically connect humans with design—physically, visually, socially, and emotionally?

For more than three decades, these are the design puzzles Larry has worked to solve, one structure at a time, each a unique answer in itself. Influenced by his clients’ dreams; his travels in the US, Asia, and Europe; and a palpable fascination with regional materials and settings, Larry thirsts to create bespoke designs that enrich human patterns of life…or even create new ones.

The natural migration from room to room, the uninterrupted flow from inside to outside, the internal human shifts from “world” to “home”—those are the elements Larry always seeks to elevate, enhance, and ease through design.