Framing the Tetons

Colorado Buff stone and steel panels surround the double-sided fireplace and complement the custom black walnut dining table designed by Willow Creek Design Group. Tongue-and-groove Alaskan Cedar planks in a custom gray stain cover the ceiling.

Recruited early (during property scouting), the team of architects Ken Mahood and Steve Kaness of Workshop Collaborative, builder Matt Somers of Seven Generations Construction, and designers Colleen McFadden-Walls and Renée Crawford of Willow Creek Design Group approached the project with syncopated ingenuity.

ARCHETYPAL STRUCTURE

Charged with creating separate primary and guest areas linked to a central kitchen-living space, Workshop Collaborative conceived of three contemporary cabins. Inspired by the archetype of a historic ranch unfolding across distinctive functional areas, the architects designed the cabins, each with its own entrance, to be standalone. Targeting a tight footprint—under 5,000 square feet total—each cabin had to operate efficiently. “They wanted a house that was functional for their family as well as their guests,” architect Kaness says.

To map the structure, the architects spent a lot of time walking the property and staking out each cabin, making adjustments to best frame the panorama in every room. The west cabin features the primary suite plus an office. The east wing hosts guests in three en-suite bedrooms, and the center contains the kitchen, dining room, and living room. Glass corridors connect the cabins.

As soon as visitors step into the center cabin, the sweeping majesty of the Grand Teton greets them thanks to floor-to-ceiling Bildau windows. To complement the vista, Willow Creek chose furnishings according to a neutral, texture-driven palette.

Workshop Collaborative carefully staked each room on the property, focusing on the view. The bedroom furnishings cultivate a feeling of warmth and elegance alongside art from the Diehl Gallery.

When the pandemic pushed timelines and prices, the team recalibrated and made necessary edits. “The collaborative nature of this project meant that we looked at every decision carefully,” builder Matt Somers says. “We weighed our options and discussed everything with the group.”

The serene ethos cultivated throughout the home comes to bear beautifully in the primary bath with its minimalist palette, freestanding tub, and graphite fixtures.

A virtual-reality model of the design helped the team share the plans with their clients. “The 3D model put it all together in one piece,” architect Mahood says. “The clients could walk through the house and feel the spaces. It gave them a new understanding of the house.”
 

Mountain Minimalism

Abiding by aesthetic simplicity, the team chose components that complement the panorama. “We designed a quiet shed roof in standing-seam metal,” Mahood says. “It doesn’t try to be a grand gesture on the site. It lets the landscape speak for itself.”

Because the kitchen anchors the central cabin, Willow Creek sourced warm gray rift oak veneer cabinetry as a grounding element, softening the cool white accents of the Cristallo quartzite and upper cabinets. Workshop Collaborative designed full windows as a backdrop for the range and custom vent hood, suffusing the space with natural light. Paintings from the Diehl Gallery complement the kitchen.

Interior designers Colleen McFadden-Walls and Renée Crawford also advised on the exterior finishes—Colorado Buff stone, metal cladding, and stained cedar siding—which they linked with essential accents inside. To reduce the red notes in the Alaskan cedar ceiling, the duo worked with the painter to develop a custom stain. Bildau windows, installed throughout the house, allowed for the greatest expanse of glass. “By choosing an espresso stain for the millwork, we created a dramatic frame for the stunning views,” McFadden-Walls says.

Just like a historic ranch operating as a series of interrelated cabins, this mountain-view residence unfolds across three complementary pods designed for living, guests, and residents respectively.

The interior finishes continue the quiet curation. Applying a mountain minimalism style, the designers mixed blue, gray, and neutral tones with rich textures—a schema grounded in the core elements: wide-plank oak flooring with blond and gray hues, natural stone, and metal accents. “With such abundant natural light and commanding views, we wanted to keep the interior design warm and soft,” McFadden-Walls says. “We didn’t want to over-furnish.”

This minimalist color story extends across the cabins, creating cohesiveness throughout the home. “We kept the color palette light and used furnishings with soft curves, textural fabrics, and neutral drapery materials to complement the contemporary architecture of the home,” Crawford says.

Pivotal to the curated palette, the decision to use two dramatic Quartzite slabs in the primary bath and the kitchen influenced everything else. In the open kitchen, an initial desire for all-white evolved with McFadden-Walls’s guidance: weighing the blanched ethos of winter, she suggested using white as an accent (not a feature). The spacious countertop and Moroccan Zellige tile backsplash fulfill that cue with lustrous character while complementing the gray oak of the cabinetry and flooring. True to the spirit of the project, the team’s refined curation of symbiotic elements encourages communion with nature within the walls of the home and beyond.