Awards & Honors
2025 Forbes America's Best-In-State Residential Architects
2025 ASID Colorado, New Construction, 3,500-6,500 SF, Portal House, While Pricipal at HMH Architecture + Interiors
2025 Forbes America’s Top 200 Residential Architects
2022 AIA Colorado Design Award of Merit Blue Mountain Modern
2022 Residential Design Architecture Interiors Design Award Vail Family Condo, While Principal at HMH Architecture + Interiors
2022 Nation Luxe Red Award Winner, Renovation Vail Family Condo, While Principal at HMH Architecture + Interiors
2021 AIA Colorado Design Award Honorable Mention Vail Family Condo, While Principal at HMH Architecture + Interiors
2021 ASID Award, Renovation under 4,000 s.f. Vail Family Condo, While Principal at HMH Architecture + Interiors
2020 5280 Homes 15 Brilliant Minds Shaping the Way Denverites Live, While Principal at HMH Architecture + Interiors
2018 Colorado Homes & Lifestyles Home Of The Year Finalist While Principal at HMH Architecture + Interiors
2009 ASID Award, Renovation under 5,000 s.f. Modern Penthouse Loft, While designer/project manager at HMH Architecture + Interiors
2009 ASID Award, Primary Residence under 5,000 s.f. Colorado Home, While designer/project manager at HMH
2008 AIA Colorado Design Award Colorado Home, While designer/project manager at HMH Architecture + Interiors
Publications & Features
Our homes have been featured in a wide variety of publications specializing in architecture and interior design in Denver, Boulder and Colorado.,
Blue Mountain Modern — Featured in Cosy Mountain (2025)
In “The New Pioneers,” writer Patricia Parquet explores sustainable architect Cherie Goff’s passive house in the Colorado mountains—a home and workspace designed for efficiency, ecology, and a strong connection to nature. Through an in-depth interview, Goff shares the technical and material decisions behind building a cost-effective, low-energy home that reflects both environmental responsibility and mountain living.
To reduce your energy consumption and achieve better thermal comfort, what passive design strategies did you use?
The south-facing windows in the living area heat the concrete floors in winter, while the roof overhang mitigates solar heat gain in summer. Blinds in most areas allow for adjusting solar heat gain and controlling the temperature. The highly insulated walls ensure better thermal comfort and reduce energy costs. We also have triple-glazed windows, manufactured by a local company. The building envelope is airtight; it has even undergone a blower door test.What systems did you choose to save energy, reduce your carbon footprint, and improve air quality?
The house is entirely electric, with no gas appliances or fireplace. Heating is provided by radiant floor heating with an electric air-to-water heat exchanger. Unlike all our neighbors, we don't have air conditioning. We worked with passive design strategies to reduce our thermal loads. The ERV ventilation system provides fresh air. And finally, a 4.2 kW photovoltaic system, installed on the roof, offsets most of our energy needs.
Blue Mountain Modern — Featured in Sunset Magazine (2023)
In “This Mountaintop Glass Box House Is All About the Views,” writer Christine Lennon profiles Boulder architect Cherie Goff’s self-designed home perched high above Golden, Colorado. The glass, steel, and concrete structure is intentionally minimal, allowing sweeping mountain vistas and surrounding wildlife to take center stage. Hyperefficient and deeply connected to nature, the home reflects Goff’s Colorado roots and her commitment to simple, sustainable living.
Nature is impossible to ignore at Goff’s house, where a wall of glass windows reveals an expansive view of the landscape and the lights of Denver in the distance. She watches the changing seasons transform the landscape, turning dynamic native grasses from green to gold to auburn before snow blankets their surroundings in white.
The house uses resources lightly. Its concrete base is insulated by the earth on its interior side. With exterior insulation and triple pane windows, the house is designed for passive solar heating. The southern-facing floor-to-ceiling windows warm up the concrete floors in the winter, while overhangs and motorized shades keep the house cool in the summer without air-conditioning. The house is 100 percent electric, with hot-water radiant floor heating fed by an efficient heat pump and solar panels. The corrugated steel siding is both fire-resistant and wallet-friendly.
Blue Mountain Modern — Featured in 5280 Home (January 2023)
In “Efficiency is at the Crux of this Nearly Net Zero Home Just Outside Golden,” writer Julie Dungal highlights architect Cherie Goff’s own modern mountain home. Designed with a focus on minimizing waste and maximizing connection to the landscape, the compact residence blends energy efficiency, fire-resistant materials, and clean, minimalist detailing. The result is a warm, sustainable retreat that brings the outdoors in and reflects Goff’s core design values.
5280 Home: How does your home showcase your sustainable design philosophy?
Cherie Goff: I try to design homes that are sized right, that feel comfortable and connected to nature, and that provide different experiences in different rooms. In 1,800 square feet, our house has a shared office on the lower level and living space on the upper story. We have solar panels and shades, it’s all electric, and it’s in the mountains, so we don’t have air conditioning.Wildfire is a serious concern in the West. Did you design with that in mind?
It’s certainly at the forefront of our minds. The materials [we used] are all extremely fire resistant: the concrete base, the corrugated metal on the second story, and the composite deck. I would think about choosing fire-resistant materials for any home, particularly after the Marshall Fire [in 2021 in Boulder County]. We also cleared out the trees around the house.
New Century Modern — Featured in Modern in Denver (Summer 2020)
In “A Theory of Evolution in Residential Design,” Emily O’Brien highlights Boulder architect Cherie Goff’s new century modern home in Boulder. The design blends mid-century inspiration with contemporary needs, using warm materials like stone and wood to define a distinct “Colorado Modern” style. Simple volumes, a restrained palette of stone, stucco, and wood, and an asymmetrical façade with flat roofs and clerestory windows create a striking exterior. Inside, open, functional floor plans place the kitchen at the heart of the home, while modern efficiencies—insulation, PV panels, and minimal thermal breaks—combine with classic modernist principles: clean lines, floor-to-ceiling windows, and varied ceiling heights that balance openness with intimate spaces.
“The covered patio extends from the kitchen and visually blurs the lines from outside to inside,” says Goff. “And because it is cradled into the house and has recessed heaters, the couple has been able to enjoy outdoor eating most of the year.” “The patio is where we eat whenever the weather allows,” says the homeowner. “And when it doesn’t, we have the same views from our living room, dining room, and kitchen. We never tire of the view of the Flatirons—from inside or outside—so we always feel like we get to enjoy living in Colorado.”
Cherie Goff — Featured in 5280 Home (June/July 2020)
In “15 Brilliant Minds Shaping the Way Denverites Live”, Kathryn O'Shea-Evans and Michelle Shortall spotlight Boulder architect Cherie Goff and 14 other forward-thinkers who are transforming Denver into an architecture, real estate, and decorating mecca.
The Starchitect: Cherie Goff
Her yen for clean lines may derive from the year the Colorado native spent living in Denmark, and her mantra—“quality over quantity”—has helped shape innumerable timeless homes throughout the region.
New Century Modern — Featured in Boulder Lifestyle (March 2021)
In “Mountain Canvas" by Lisa Van Horne, highlights how form, function and flawless style combined in the creation of a warm, modern home in the foothills of Boulder, Colorado.
"Building a new home was actually not the homeowners' original intent," says Cherie Goff, principal at HMH Architecture + Interiors. "They took a leap of faith with this property with the hope of creating a warm, modern home where they could relax, recharge and connect to nature."
New Century Modern — Featured in Dwell + Modern in Denver (March 2021)
In “Inside Out,” Alison Gwinn highlights the Sunset House. Boulder Architect and interior designer Cherie Goff explains how the home seamlessly blurs the lines between indoors and outdoors, creating a fluid connection with its natural surroundings.
Bringing the outdoors in is hardly a new concept. But there’s an open, rectilinear house perched on one of the highest hills north of downtown Boulder that goes a step further: It also brings the indoors out.
For a family of four who love to bicycle, kayak, and take advantage of the Colorado lifestyle, connecting their living space to the natural environment was a high priority. “The challenge was making the interior spaces feel like they were outdoors,” said architect and interior designer Cherie Goff of HMH Architecture + Interiors in Boulder, who achieved that effect mainly through large sliders and accordion doors that replaced the walls separating the dining and living rooms from the spaces outside.
To play up those views, Goff gave the copper- and stucco-clad home a bold design of two V-shaped floors stacked one on top of the other (visible as you approach the home from the street). “The design really takes advantage of the site by creating these quadrants that naturally open up to the yard in both the front and back,” she said.
see also: Modern in Denver - Inside Out
Cherie Goff — Featured in Boulder Lifestyle (March 2021)
In “Crafting a New Narrative,” Riley Cowing highlights Colorado Residential architect Cherie Goff’s passion for modern architecture, designing homes that seamlessly flow from indoors to outdoors while emphasizing right-sized spaces that nurture family life. The article also features Goff’s guiding principles of modern design:
OPEN FLOOR PLAN - An open kitchen, dining room and living room makes a home feel larger and facilitates family interaction and connection. Rooms that are closed off require hallways to connect them, which is wasted space.
CLEAN LINES - Goff thinks there is a lot of beauty in simplicity. A core principle in modern design is clean forms, horizontal lines and materials expressed in well-defined planes. For example, a more typical home might be composed of small window openings versus floor to ceiling windows.
CONNECT TO NATURE - Connecting a home to the outdoors helps us feel closer to nature even when we are not out biking or hiking. Floor to ceiling windows combined with a ceiling that extends from inside to outside creates this visual connection between inside and out
LACK OF ORNAMENT - Eliminating decorative trim and creating uncluttered spaces help us focus and recharge. An ornate trim around a window draws your attention to the trim-not the view outdoors. In other areas, this shows up in the details: kitchen cabinets made with clean, slab face drawers and recessed cabinet pulls (not attached hardware} create a visually uncluttered space.
NATURAL LIGHT - A combination of large window openings and clearstory light ( bringing light where views are not desired) induce calming, dynamic environments.
Check out the recent Redfin article we were featured in: What is Boulder, CO Known For? 11 Things to Love About the City
Kind words from clients
“Cherie Goff was an absolute pleasure to work with. Her understanding of design, building and energy codes, and her attention to detail made our project run efficiently and smoothly. She was responsive, creative, collaborative and committed to making sure the final product was everything we hoped for (and more). I couldn’t imagine designing a custom home with anyone else, and highly recommend Cherie to anyone considering a home remodel or construction project.”
- Nicole Rajpal, Boulder, CO | more kind words