Hilltop Modern

Spring 2026

Hilltop Modern: A sustainable and sculpturesque home bends to the whims of Town Mountain

WRITER:

Lauren Stepp

PHOTOGRAPHER:

Ryan Theede

In response to potentially troublesome site constraints, the design team chose a curved footprint and low-slung profile that minimizes wind impact and maximizes privacy.

Glass walls in the living spaces frame southern views and capture sunlight for passive solar heating

the main deck features sustainably sourced ipe and walls clad in white pine siding with a burned finish to enhance the wood’s durability.

the kitchen gains modern appeal from a waterfall quartz island countertop and matte black cabinetry

A solid front facade protects the home’s privacy from the road and provides an unassuming guest entry.

In the living room, a Rais “Q-Tee” woodstove features a wide viewing window.

Across the room, a hidden door leads to the office, which boasts a floating desk build from salvaged walnut trees.

The primary bath “nods to an industrial feel without going too far in that direction,” says McKay. The primary bedroom prioritizes simplicity with a black accent wall, floating side tables, and corner windows.

A cabinet wall divides the sleeping and closet areas for an uncluttered look.

Rather than build up, the home steps down along the property grade, giving way to an airy lower level anchored by a custom epoxy floor.

The downstairs houses a family room, workout zone, mudroom, guest bed and bath, and hidden bar.

PHOTOGRAPHER:

Ryan Theede

For years, Travis McKay cycled past the lot without really seeing it. Head down, he would grind up Town Mountain Road, the two-acre wooded parcel just another blur of green. “I had probably ridden my bike past that lot 500 times,” he says. Then, in early 2020, a for-sale sign made him look twice. As the owner of Think Build + Design, an eco-focused design-build firm, McKay approached the land purchase with a contractor’s pragmatism, imagining he might hold the property for a future client or prepare it for resale. But with each ride up the mountain, he began to see the place for what it could become: home.

A Bend in the Road

McKay closed on the land in May of 2020. By the end of the year, he knew he would build a house for himself; his wife, Erica; their daughter; and the family pup, Fleece. The lot, however, posed challenges.

Tucked along one of Asheville’s most iconically steep ridges, the property came with right-of-way constraints, lofty grades, and regulations that limited height and disturbance. Even McKay’s real estate attorney felt compelled to offer a gentle warning. “He pulled me aside and said, ‘You might have some trouble building here,’” McKay recalls.

Instead of backing away, the owner brought in Maria Rusafova and Jakub Markulis of the firm Rusafova Markulis Architects, a trusted collaborator from an earlier project. Rusafova’s approach was to work with the mountain, not against it. With the property at an elevation of 3,200 feet, design decisions doubled as survival strategies. “The site is exposed to high winds and horizontal rain. We responded with a simple shed roof that follows the slope in order to minimize the house volume towards the wind path and respond to building height restrictions,” says Rusafova. Standing seam metal roofing on the exterior walls provides a durable shell against mountain weather. “Triangular overhangs shelter the living room windows from rain and sun and give the house a sculptural appearance.” The result is a roughly 3,500-square-foot home that spreads horizontally rather than stacking high.

For McKay, though, that long, low profile was about more than weather. Raised in Asheville, he has spent decades watching ever-larger houses push farther into the skyline, a trend he never wanted to repeat on his own build. “We really wanted to make sure we weren’t building a mega-mansion,” he says.

Material Matters

That respect for place carried through to the home’s exterior materials. During construction, McKay salvaged roughly 13,000 board feet of timber cleared for the driveway, house pad, and septic field. The logs traveled only a few miles to be milled and kiln-dried before returning to the mountain. “The wood never left Buncombe County,” says McKay, who used the lumber for interior trim and exterior soffits and siding. The siding received a Shou Sugi Ban finish, which is the traditional Japanese method of charring wood to increase its resistance to insects, moisture, and rot.

Inside, the sustainability story becomes more personal. Several of the home’s custom furnishings, including the walnut dining table and floating desk in the office, began as trees that once stood on the lot, bringing warmth and texture to an otherwise restrained palette of black and white. “My style is more of a minimalistic approach,” McKay says. “Simpler is better.”

In the kitchen, matte Fenix-front cabinetry by Custom Cabinet Works pairs with a Wilsonart quartz counter purchased locally in Asheville—choices that trimmed shipping distance while supporting regional industry. Underfoot, select white oak from Gennett Lumber is finished with a whitening stain “to keep everything muted and simplified.”

Throughout the home, small gestures go a long way, from a concealed-hinge door in the living room that swings open to reveal the office—its hardware hides within a geometric accent wall—to custom lighting, including distinctive concrete fixtures in the primary bath developed with the Italian company Plato Design. “We really paid attention to all the finer details,” the builder/homeowner notes.

Built to Last

McKay paid attention to performance, too. Beneath the finishes, advanced structural panels and a ventilated rainscreen, which help the house shed water and regulate temperature, are backed by layers of blown-in, batt, and spray foam insulation. An energy-recovery ventilator continually refreshes the indoor air, and conduit runs to the garage for solar panels and battery storage when the family decides the time is right to install them.

Those decisions paid off. The home meets the requirements of the Green Built Alliance’s Green Built Homes program at the Gold Level and is certified net zero ready, meaning it’s prepared to one day produce as much energy as it consumes. During the 2023 WNC Parade of Homes—a self-guided showcase of new and renovated homes organized by the Builders Association of the Blue Ridge Mountains—the project also earned honors for both Green Certification and Best Feature. “During the Parade, I had several highly regarded builders whom I look up to tell me, ‘Travis, you really nailed these details,’” McKay remembers. “That was a very nice compliment.”

Such recognition is tied to a much longer journey. Before founding Think Build + Design, McKay spent two decades in action sports sales. On nights and weekends, he tackled remodeling projects, which gave him a front-row seat to how many houses were going up fast—and how few were built with the future in mind. “Some of the houses going up, I knew they weren’t going to make it 50 years, much less 10,” McKay says. “That’s what drove my passion for building.”

Today, he sees his family’s home on Town Mountain Road as a built expression of those values. “I wanted to do it the right way,” McKay says. “I wanted to build something that’s going to last.”