Moose, Wyoming

People/Products

There’s nothing formulaic about the National Park Service’s new Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center for the Grand Teton National Park in Moose, Wyoming. The jagged roofline evokes the storied mountain range to the west, on view beyond a glass wall that spikes as high as 30 feet above the floor. The sawtooth floor plan accentuates the view while keeping out afternoon sun. Stocky columns of Douglas fir march through the exhibition hall; not only do they brace the roof beams, they also hint that perhaps you’re emerging from a forest and into the meadow that lies beyond the windows.

All of these architectural moves are rooted in the Wyoming terrain, yet the 23,000-square-foot visitor center also reflects an emerging 21st-century sensibility that blends values—contemporary design with a palpable sense of place, both shaped by environmental concerns—once considered distinct in architecture. This approach is evident in much of the work of the center’s architects, the Seattle office of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, but there’s none of the Minimalist sheen that marks the firm’s high-profile Apple stores. Instead, the tactile materials and expressive forms in the Grand Tetons center, which opened in August 2007, draw on mountain houses that principal Peter Bohlin, FAIA, has crafted over the years.

In 2001, the firm won the competition to design a badly needed starting point for the two million annual visitors who explore the Grand Tetons by foot, raft, or car. The first scheme called for a partially buried building to the east, across the Snake River, but concerns about disturbing undeveloped land led the architects to focus instead on the present site west of the river, which was already occupied by nondescript commercial buildings slated to be removed.

The change in location transformed the design approach; the center announces itself to drivers on busy Teton Park Road with an eye-catching silhouette where the metal roof slides past the glass wall toward the mountains. What’s not obvious from the road is the center’s U-shaped layout: The central exhibition hall focuses on the mountains, while the wings point back toward the Snake River. One wing contains a gallery and small classroom, the other a bookstore and offices.


People

Architect:
Bohlin Cywinski 
Jackson Wilkes-Barre Pittsburgh Philadelphia Seattle San Francisco

Project team
Peter Q. Bohlin, FAIA, Principal for Design 
Raymond S. Calabro, AIA, Project Manager 
David Miller, Jessica O’Brien, Christian G. Evans, AIA, Mark Adams, Daniel Ralls, Zeke Bush, Michelle Evans

Project consultants
Ralph Applebaum Associates (Interpretive Design)
Beaudette Consulting Enginners, Inc. (Structural Engineering) 
Gordon Prill Drapes, Inc. (M/E/P Engineering)
Renfro Design Group, Inc. (Lighting Design)
Swift and Company (Landscape Architects)
The Greenbusch Group (Acoustical Engineers)
Davis Langdon (Cost Estimating)
Nelson Engineering (Civil Engineering, Surveying)
Ian Mackinlay Architecture (Snow Country Design)

General contractor:
Intermountain Construction Inc. 
Moose, Wyoming

Photographer:
Nic Lehoux 
604.874.0918

Edward Riddell
307.733.8093

Peter Mauss/Esto 
914.698.4060

CAD System
Microstation V8

 

 

Products

Exterior cladding 
Masonry: 
Select Stone

Metal/glass curtainwall: 
Hankins & Johann, Inc.

Concrete
Cast-in-place board formed concrete

Wood
Clear heart Western red cedar

Roofing Metal
AEP SpanSeam with Cool Zactique finish

Windows Aluminum
Hankins & Johann, Inc.

Glazing
Glass: 
Oldcastle Glass

Doors 
Entrances:
Hankins & Johann, Inc.

Wood doors: 
VT Industries

Fire-control doors, security grilles: 
Dynamic Enclosures

Hardware 
Locksets: 
BEST Hinges: Rixson

Closers: 
Rixson

Exit devices
Von Duprin

Pulls: 
Custom

Cabinet hardware: 
Sugatsune

Interior finishes 
Acoustical ceilings: 
The Rulon Company

Cabinetwork and custom woodwork: 
Willow Creek Woodworking

Paints and stains
Sherwin-Williams

Paneling: 
VG Doug Fir

Floor and wall tile: 
In Toilet Rooms, Terra Green Ceramics

Carpet: 
FLOR by Interface

Furnishings 
Office furniture: 
Tables: 
Custom by Architect

Seating: 
Knoll

Reception furniture and Info Desk: 
Custom by Architect

Visitor Benches: 
Custom by Architect

Lighting 
Interior ambient lighting
Edison-Price, Elliptipar

Downlights: 
Lucifer, Kurt Versen

Exterior: 
B-K Lighting, Ardee, Stonco

Controls: 
Electronic Theater Controls (ETC)

Plumbing 
Waterless Urinals: 
Sloan

Drinking Fountains: 
Halsey-Taylor

Water Closets: 
Kohler