The 404 Hotel is a proposed 26-room, net-zero, boutique hotel designed to establish a new benchmark for sustainable hospitality in the Rocky Mountain region. Located in downtown Gunnison, Colorado, which is measurably the coldest town in the contiguous United States, the project embraces its demanding climate as an opportunity to demonstrate what high-performance, low-energy architecture can achieve. Designed to the Passive House standard and targeting net-zero energy, the hotel integrates ground-source heat pumps, on-site renewable energy, super-insulated assemblies, and high-performance windows to deliver exceptional year-round comfort with minimal energy consumption.
Steve Scribner
Morgan Law
Maggie Wohltjen
Jen Jaffke
Smithworks Natural Homes
EMU Systems
Collective Carpentry
REG Engineers
REG Engineers
Shape Architecture Studio
24,000 sf
Gunnison, CO
The hotel’s program is shaped around wellness, community, and contemporary mountain living. Sited on Historic Main Street, the project organizes a series of community-oriented spaces—including a street-facing café, flexible meeting room, generous lobby, and rooftop gathering terrace—into a compact urban form that contributes to the walkable character of the authentic mountain town. These programmed areas are conceived not as amenities but as civic living rooms, supporting informal daily use as well as larger events and seasonal activities. Public areas draw on Scandinavian-inspired principles that include clean lines, natural materials, abundant daylight, and warm, calming textures to create inviting environments where guests and locals can work, gather, and relax from morning through evening.
Massing and façade articulation draw from the rhythm and scale of Gunnison’s Historic Main Street, creating a contemporary interpretation rather than a literal reconstruction of local precedent. The resulting design is both contextual and clearly of its time, emphasizing durable materials and long-term resilience. Fire-treated thermally modified wood siding will clad the upper levels, while the first floor will incorporate stone cladding reclaimed from a former historic downtown Gunnison building.
More than a destination, the 404 Hotel is a model for sustainable development in mountain towns and proof that luxury, comfort, and environmental responsibility can coexist beautifully, even in one of the nation’s harshest climates.
