Stais Architecture & Interiors – Designing Community for over 30 Years
Stais Architecture & Interiors has made Breckenridge and Frisco their Home-Base While Designing and Building for Colorado and Beyond
by Holly Battista-Resignolo
Meet Matt Stais, Family Man, Ski Bum, Architect, and supporter of everything community in Breckenridge and beyond. He followed the standard mountain town tale, moving out to Colorado to ski for one winter…that was over 32 winters ago.
Matt attended the University of Virginia for Architecture, from 1980 to 1984. He was inspired early in his youth while he was living in Europe with his parents who were both professors. He and his entire family spent a year traveling around Europe when he was seven. He fondly remembers cruising through Switzerland in a VW Squareback and visiting all the little mountain valleys and towns. He recognized how the architecture of their structures were slightly different from town to town due to each town’s location. Building styles for these towns were influenced by the resources they had available 500 years ago as the locations were separated by mountain passes and transportation was severely limited. He appreciated how each town had its little similarities and differences, not only in building styles but how they celebrated their regions though food and products too.
Matt shared, “As I got older I really enjoyed working on buildings and seeing things get built. I worked for builders and did all kinds of woodworking-type stuff when I was a kid and remodeled parts of our house when I was in high school. I’ve always found building and remodeling fascinating. It’s not just designing things.” It’s designing a structure and then seeing it get built that he finds so satisfying.
After Stais graduated from UVA school he then moved up to Portland, Maine, where he worked for six years staying in touch with friends from school. A friend of his, Bobby Craig of Arapahoe Architects reached out, he was looking for architects. Matt was designing prisons in Massachusetts which wasn’t that much fun. Bobby offered the opportunity to stay on his couch while designing ski homes. Matt said, “okay, yeah”, it only took one phone call and he ended up in Breckenridge a week later.
Matt worked with Bobby Craig for a couple of years and then in 1995 started his own business, Matthew Stais Architects. His group grew and recently expanded as Stais Architecture & Interiors (SAI). The firm proudly produces custom homes, assists ski resorts with work, and also focuses on another passion, community work. Stais and his team realized four or five years ago that the housing thing is a real crisis in Summit County. He wanted to help the area locals out because nobody can sell their house and buy a bigger house anymore, and that was before COVID.
One of SAI’s main tenets is to help the community’s locals and help with workforce housing and other community projects. For Matt, it’s about the people and helping people. He strives to do good projects for good people. So if a local resident or restaurateur has a condo or home remodel he and his firm try very hard to help make it affordable while still crafting something beautiful and sustainable. He realizes community is exceptionally important to families as many of us do not have the support of nearby relatives.
SAI has grown and expanded over the years and now features an interior studio that enables his team to expand their offerings and design more comprehensively. He is exceptionally proud of his team. Each of his associates comes from a variety of backgrounds, giving SAI the opportunity to see new design perspectives and implement multiple disciplines in thoughtful ways.
There are four architectural staff and one interior designer, as well as people with years of experience in landscape, historic preservation, sustainability, and business.
He and his crew are enthusiastic about design and have a passion for living at the top of the Rockies. They all love mountain culture, playing outdoors, the rich history of this town, and a great sense of community. Each of his members jump at the opportunity to get out on their skis, bikes, and boats whenever they have the chance. Balancing work and play helps them design better and give back to this place they love.
Pictured within this article are several houses that Matt and his team have completed; some as new builds and others as remodels. You can see and learn more here:
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