Bar B Bar
- Award Year: 2022
- Award Category: Residential Design
- Award Designation: Merit Award
- Client: Confidential
- Location: Jackson Hole, Wyoming
With an eye towards preserving the land’s natural qualities, a multi-diciplinary design team created a holistic vision for this 35-acre, Jackson Hole equestrian ranch whose imprint would be light and fully vested in the future of the surrounding environment
Following the bank the might Snake River, and anchored by picturesque views to the iconic Teton Range, Bar B Bar Ranch is defined by a transect of landscapes – rolling moraines, grassy meadows, mature forests, riparian lands, and active irrigation ditches.
For much of the 20th century, the property was part of a historic 800 +/- acre ranch. Historical photographs illustrate the homestead and agricultural uses, which were included into a 5-acre development and 2.5-acre building envelope as part of a conservation plan.
Resting within a wildlife migratory corridor that connects the floodplain with the nearby Park, the land holds extraordinary environmental value. With over 80% of the property under conservation easement, the property falls within Teton County’s Natural Resource Overlay.
Early planning studies – a collaboration between the architect, landscape architect, ecologists, and equestrian specialist – sought to leverage views to mountain horizons from living spaces, provide functional use for the owner’s horses, and preserve unobstructed movement for the site’s migrating wildlife.
Initial conversations between the design team and client revealed a desire to create a dynamic modern home, defined by artful simplicity, unwavering restraint, and timeless materials that would blend effortlessly to its sublime setting.
The home, crisply executed through a nocturnal palette of wood, inspired by the land’s cottonwood forest; its roofline rising from the meadow, revealing views to the Tetons. At the entry, a protected walk follows a linear garden of native perennials.
Microclimate studies revealed a dichotomy between advantageous areas for solar exposure and prevailing winds. Freestanding walls, grade transitions, and vegetative screening – considered in concert with interior views – function as elements within the garden for shade and windbreaks during all seasons.
Located at the southern edge of the home, a freestanding wall creatively offers a windbreak and privacy tool between the outdoor dining terrace and community roadway. A narrow cut introduces the sound of falling water that permeates throughout the space.
The quiet, muted design of the garden gives way to its picturesque surroundings. Shadows of nearby tree plantings cast upon fluttering shadows earth-toned materials while the sound of dripping water embodies a place for respite and rejuvenation.
Gently suppressed into the tallgrass meadow, a destination firepit with views to the Tetons is bound by a low wall, defining the limits of the garden. From a distance, the firepit disappears below the horizontal landscape.
Working in close collaboration with an equestrian specialist, architecture and landscape interventions celebrate the honest workings of the ranch. Paddocks, pens, hitching rails, materials, and fencing program are all elements purposefully seen and accessible from the home.
Together with a restorative hand, the design brings native plant ecologies into the design, elevating the natural qualities of the working land.
Anchoring the northern edge of the gravel court, a linear concrete horse trough is rests between two freestanding walls. At evening, the water trough is illuminated into an artistic intervention, set within the darkness of the surroundings.
Freestanding walls, grade transitions, and vegetative windbreaks provide protection from the elements and extend the garden into the pasture lands.
Collectively, the design quietly builds upon the existing landscape patterns and communities to screen the home from adjacent lands. Introduced plantings of cottonwood and native willows provide natural vegetation veils, offer habitat forage and cover, and allow permeable wildlife movement.