Queen’s Lane guesthouse
Carney Logan Burke Architects has collaborated with a family on a 180-acre Jackson Hole, Wyoming over a period of twenty-plus years. The breadth of work — five projects in a wildlife-rich riverine ecosystem depicts the evolution of one couple’s aesthetic: it has carved a steady arc from traditional to modern.
The first building, a Parkitecture-influenced log, stone, and timber lodge, anchors the compound. This was followed by an office/shop, designed in a transitional style, and a wine silo. With its interior spiral staircase and rooftop viewing platform, the silo celebrates rustic modernism through a classic agrarian form clad in oxidized steel plates and offers a dramatic sculptural expression.
The two-bedroom guesthouse Queen’s Lane Pavilion was built on the site of an older structure that predated the current owners. Because it resides within today’s minimum setback requirements, the project necessitated a two-year planning process with Teton County and conscientious consideration of wildlife, waterways and trees. Architect Eric Logan, who designed all five structures, followed the exact footprint of the original building. An L-shape, the short section houses the garage, while the longer section encompasses the bedrooms and a graciously scaled open plan living/kitchen/dining space. There, an ethereal airiness is achieved from the windows. The fireplace anchors one end, the kitchen the other; with openings on either side of each, both masses float between the walls. Beyond those masses lie the bedrooms, each glassed-in area designed as its own private nature experience. White oak floors and ceilings warm and ground the entire home.
The structure relates to its neighbours, yet inhabits its own micro-ecosystem on the property; the owners’ two decades of habitat enhancement projects has created a thriving fishery and miniature wildlife refuge frequented by elk, eagles, moose, deer and coyotes. With necessities such as laundry located in the lodge, the home is free to express its essence. The influence of the water, the protection of the cottonwoods, and the simplicity of the building (from a distance, it is perceived as one line in the landscape) align in a special moment on the property. This serene glass pavilion — modernist wildlife viewing blind during the day, luminous lantern amidst the trees at night, comfortable retreat at all hours — is a fitting tribute to that moment.
