Transcription
Within the valley that we live in, known as Jackson Hole, the "hole" actually refers to the mountains we're surrounded by. My name is Eric Logan, I'm a partner with CLB Architects, and this is the Lone Pine Residence.
One of the things we try not to take for granted is the beautiful landscape we live in. We are surrounded by mountains, and that's one of the unique aspects of this particular part of the world. As a result, we're constantly trying to open spaces to bring the views of those mountains in.
The design guidelines prescribe that all the roofs in the subdivision, major roof forms, need to be gables, and that all of those gable roofs need to have an overhang. We actually negotiated hard with the design review committee in this subdivision to allow for, rather than an additive approach to the roof overhangs—where one puts on a hat and stretches out a brim—we took these very simple agrarian forms and carved away at them.
So, you will see these deep recess porches at the short ends of all these buildings. This allows for a nice indoor-outdoor transition and creates some covered outdoor space, essentially to achieve that overhang condition prescribed by the design guidelines.
The diagram is very simple; it's composed of two pavilions. One contains what we'll call public functions: the living, dining, and kitchen. The other contains all of the bedrooms, so it's very neat and tidy, compartmentalized. Those two pavilions are then linked by a connector, which serves as the entry—it's actually the space we're in at the moment.
Really, the goal was to create a balance of these warm wood elements contrasted with the smooth, abstract plaster surfaces. There's a richness that we find in that contrast.
When we get a little bit deeper into the materials palette and some of the details, there are all kinds of custom details developed particularly for this project. Our team brought an idea about leather accents into the conversation and judiciously spread them out around the house as little moments where one touches and feels.
For example, the woven quality of the leather strapping at the stair handrail is quite beautiful, and there's a graphic element about it. But when one grabs the handrail and starts to traverse the steps to the second floor, there's actually a funny texture underneath the grab bar, which is that baseball stitch. This is meant to be disguised so it doesn't complicate things visually, but there's a tactile experience that happens.
Natural light in our environment is extremely important to how we think about livability in a home. Also, sort of selfishly from an architectural point of view, the way light moves across surfaces and enters rooms creates some drama, texture, and interest.
So, when we think about the articulation of the exterior of this building, the subtractive moves we make create this wonderful kind of shadow play that changes throughout the day. One of my favorite places is the heroic covered porch at the end of the living space. There's a wonderful kind of indoor-outdoor connection there.
For our summertime months, the owners can open up those doors, leave them open, and the space and the party flow in and out. We deliberately put a hole in the roof plane to create some interest with light and shadow.
So, wherever we look in this house—whether it's out of the master bedroom directly toward the ski area for the ski report, or out of the wonderful and expansive set of windows on the mountainside of the living pavilion—the mountains are present everywhere in this home.
One of the things that this very simple diagram did for us, with two pavilions and a connector, allowed us to create a crude H shape in plan. On one side of the H, the approach side, everyone enters through a kind of courtyard. There's a collecting moment there and a direction toward the front door.
On the other side of the H, there's this beautiful kind of private courtyard that's made. Our landscape architect, working with the owner and our team, designed a beautiful bosque of Aspen trees. It's a bit of a notion of cultivated landscape in this otherwise wild context we live within.
So, Aspens are planted as if they're a little deliberate bosque. There's a beautiful color element of the light and shadow and the sound that the leaves make when the wind blows.
One of the unique things about the context we're in, in Jackson, is that this community places a high priority on access to wildlife. As a result, there are conserved parcels of land surrounding us. Part of the conservation notion is to protect and preserve habitat for wildlife.
As a result, even this neighborhood we're in today is crowded with wildlife of all varieties. We're also adjacent to Spring Creek, where there are fish, and that's, of course, habitat that draws moose, elk, deer, fox, etc.
From my standpoint, one of the greatest successes in this project is the wonderful feeling of protection. Sitting there, watching the light move through the daytime, is one of my favorite things to do when I'm on the property.