To say that Craig Crossman and his wife Cynthia have one of the most innovative and architecturally striking homes in Western North Carolina would be an understatement. When you own a 7,000-square-foot "concrete monolith," which appears to hover just below a mountain ridge top, your home is not just innovative…it’s a conversation piece.

Shortly after it was built in 2003, the house grabbed national media attention and was been featured on Home and Garden Television’s

Actually, the house does have a name, "Cloud Hidden," which was the name chosen by the home’s original owner. It seems particularly fitting on misty evenings and mornings, when the house appears to hover like a cloud above the fog-filled mountain hollow. "The view down the valley is always changing, and sometimes you feel like you

"It is really is a remarkable piece of construction when you understand how it was done," Crossman says. It’s even more remarkable when you consider that the house clings to a 35-degree mountain slope. Cloud Hidden began with the inflation of a huge polyvinyl airform or what is essentially a giant balloon. The airform used to build the Crossmans’ home measured 85 feet long by 45 feet high by 37 feet deep.

The construction crew then sprayed three inches of a polyurethane insulating foam on the inside of the airform. After applying the foam, workers constructed a massive cage of rebar, which was shaped and securely attached to the interior of the hardening polyurethane. The mesh of rebar was then coated with a layer of "shotcrete" sprayed from a pneumatic hose at high velocity. The shotcrete was applied in a layer that averages approximately four inches throughout the house, but is thicker at the base to bear the weight of the structure.

While acquiring a concrete monolith wasn’t the initial goal when they began looking for a mountain residence, the Crossmans did want a contemporary-style dwelling. Seeing the listing for Cloud Hidden in a real estate brochure, Craig sensed immediately that he had found his dream home. "I just knew this was the house that I wanted. Once we came to Asheville and took a look in person, I was hooked," he says.

It makes perfect sense that Crossman would want a cutting-edge house. His career has been dedicated to investigating and reviewing the newest and most innovative trends in technology and he has channeled this expertise in to creating a nationally syndicated radio program,

Crossman’s passion for high-tech gadgetry is evident the moment you step through the door. The house is smart-wired with a state-of-the-art Crestron System that controls the lighting, heating, cooling and entertainment systems with a remote control panel about the size of spiral-bound notebook.

Before they could add these bells and whistles, however, there were some practical matters to address. Cloud Hidden had attained some architectural renown, but had been vacant for nearly 18 months before the couple purchased it in early 2007. Much of the interior was still incomplete when they moved into the house in mid-February.

Cynthia immediately set about finding contractors to renovate and complete the interior of the house. Some concerns were quite immediate; it was mid-winter, and it soon became apparent that the home’s geothermal heating unit was woefully inadequate.

The original heating unit was almost as innovative as the house itself. When Cloud Hidden was constructed, the original owner attempted to find water by drilling more than 800 feet into the mountainside. Although the well came up dry, the deep hole provided an ideal spot to install a geothermal unit.

Since the home’s interior space is largely open, with no attic or crawl space for installing ductwork, the heating system contractor decided to use a radiant floor system. To cool the house, the contractor installed a three-ton chilled water system, vented through a flexible, small diameter ductwork that fits well with the house’s curvilinear interior walls. The unique design and construction of the home allowed the contractor to utilize systems much smaller than the 10- or 12-ton units in similar-sized traditional homes.

Even with the innovative and high-tech design, it was evident an auxiliary system would be needed to help heat the large and vaulted open spaces of the house, requiring the drilling of an additional geothermal well, which was then hooked it into the existing system.

To connect the auxiliary geothermal system, workers bored a four-inch diameter hole through the base of the house. They presented the homeowners with the drilled core — approximately four inches in diameter, nearly 16 inches long and exceptionally heavy.

"You can see just how solid the house is by looking at this piece," Crossman says. Indeed, the engineering specifications claim that the structure can withstand winds up to 300 mph and will remain stable during earthquakes.

So it seems that despite its airy beginnings and ethereal name, the Crossmans’ home cloud will be rock solid, come rain or shine.