MODESETT RESIDENCE
Raw timber, stone veneer and brick for a fanciful touch
Jackson Hole, Wyoming • 7,000 sq. ft.
Design Team: Chris Moulder, AIA; Garett Chadwick, Joshua Rourke
Among the many natural attractions afforded to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, unparalleled views of the Rocky Mountains and an abundance of wildlife activity was in part what lured our client to purchase this 3-acre site adjacent to the Snake River. They hired Dubbe Moulder Architects to design their home with the goal of creating a private, retreat-like atmosphere for themselves, family and friends. Chris Moulder was thrilled to take on the job and the ideas quickly flowed as fluidly as the nearby river currents. Moulder focused on carefully designing not just a house, but the entire site. Arranging a main house, a guest house, vehicular circulation, along with a variety of recirculating man-made ponds and streams which are designed in such a way that they maintain a healthy population of football sized Cutthroat trout throughout the entire year. These amenities complete the setting for the desired inspirational experience.
Texture is always important to DMA’s work. Materials that appear to have been in place for long periods of time have worked well in our designs and compliment the patterns established in the design vernacular of Jackson Hole. Oak timber weathers beautifully, long overhangs and covered porches cast dramatic shadows. Heavily raked stone veneers appear to have been stacked by some ancient civilization and even the careful suggestion of a more refined brick pattern work well toward a balanced composition.
The incorporation of different water features was very important to the Modesetts. Water as a moving element creates a “white noise”, or a natural music, which, with strategically placed windows on a comfortable day, can be piped throughout the house. Water also provides a sense of transition as with a bridge over a stream. This design feature allows the owners to crossover from the public part of the house to their private cabin, which serves as a master suite, without ever going out of doors. While standing on the bridge looking out onto the stream, rising trout can be seen feeding on an afternoon hatch. This scenario is so mesmerizing and tranquil that time seems to disappear. The Modesetts, being quite gracious and spiritual people as well as avid fly fishermen, found this space and the metaphor it suggests very soothing and somewhat inspirational. A wooden pier located just outside of the great room hovering out onto the main pond was designed to accommodate a perfect back cast without snapping your fly off due to hitting the house.
The floor plans were designed to allow its inhabitants to discover the home. No building, especially a residence, should be completely understood from the front door.
The Modesetts wanted a home where they could provide a great deal of entertaining, yet would also be private and comfortable when it was just the two of them. An organizational flow of open living, dining and a comfortable dine-in country kitchen looking out on to the pond were incorporated and appointed with comfortable materials and colors.
Interior surfaces were treated with everything from the rustic to the refined. The eclectic nature of the residence suggests that it was built over many years and through many generations. Therefore, particular attention to the consistency of the architecture from the outside to the inside was crucial. Smooth, white oak doors, window casings, flooring paired with refined cherry cabinetry, cut stone tile floors, and painted plaster wall surfaces are juxtaposed against rough weather beaten ancient white oak timbers from barn demolitions in the midwest, and recycled douglas fir wind fencing from southern Wyoming. Structural lodgepole pine log columns supporting the second floor and roof structures also blend together into one unifying composition.
As guests approach the front door of the home along a beautifully landscaped pathway, immense log columns flank the front door and welcome you into a view of the Grand Teton. The design direction was an adaptation of the American Shingle style as originally perceived by such notable Architects as Charles McKim, William Mead and Stanford White, Bernard Maybeck, Charles &Henry Greene and H.H. Richardson. By way of connecting this project to its locale, infusion of design sensibilities from the great lodges of the pacific northwest also came into play.
The landscape plan was for the house to appear as if it has been in place for many years rather than many minutes. All of the new components on the site had to work around various stands of existing cottonwood trees. These trees, along with a strategic placement of aspen, colorado blue spruce, arctic blue willows and wildflower beds, not only compliment the house structures and ponds but also bring a multitude of wildlife species to the property. Bald eagles perch in nearby trees waiting for a cutthroat trout to rise in one of the ponds before swooping down and flying off with a quick lunch.
The success of this project is due to many factors. It involved the collaborative effort of many specialists in their field providing their best work, be they builders, landscapers, cabinetmakers, metal smiths, et al. The clients recognized the value of involving the varied artisans and had the budget to appoint the structure with the amount of detail and depth necessary in any beautiful architectural composition. The reward for the architect is in creating a totally unique composition of landscape, building and site that respects the neighbors and compliments the natural surroundings.