Riddell Advertising and Design

Haystacks.

Project details

• Project Name: Riddell Advertising and Design
• Client: Ed & Lee Riddell
• Project Type: Commercial
• Principal Designer/s: Will Bruder
• Design Team: Ed Ewers and Dwayne Smith
• Date of completion of project: 1995
• Location of site: Jackson, Wyoming, USA

Entry.

Words from the Architect

The Riddell Advertising and Design Building, created from 1993-1995, is an example of the idea of place-making. This recent insertion into the new commercial fabric of Jackson Hole, Wyoming is an architectural celebration of the region's natural and man made context. Its sculptured form, responding to the dynamic curve of the street it faces, strives to optimally meet rigorous zoning rules while providing for future expansion.

Interior atrium.

Anchored to and rising from its naturally landscaped setting, the building's distinctive base and stair towers, clad in random width vertical board and batten weathered cedar siding, become scaleless and abstract much like the ranch, barn, and haystack architecture that dominates the region's unparalleled landscapes. The masses of the upper two floors step out to shelter horizontal strips of glazing for the offices within; the building greets the sky with strength. These canted elements are more tailored, with taut skins of resawn ship-lap regular width boards. The rhythm of wood terminates at the north and south corners in lanterns of glass and light, where randomly spaced wood vertical slat louvers work to animate interiors and diminish sun glare. A sloped wall of galvanized barn roofing on the rear elevation brings reflected sky to the ground, creating a dynamic backdrop for the staff lunch and meeting garden.

Office interior.

From the parking area, the north entry facade fully displays the building's poetic and pragmatic aesthetic rigor. With the stepped logic of the east facade wrapping around to the north elevation, the low scaled entry weather vestibule with cantilevered log trellis, a large galvanized metal clad studio delivery door, the conference room bay window at level three, and the northwest stair tower clad in random board and batten, a rich sculptural synthesis of program and space is evident.

Inside, the building creates a dialogue of space, light, and wood which reflects its exterior form. Moving down a textured concrete ramp guided by the logs of the entry trellis above, the visitor/client is drawn to a virtual 'canyon of light'. At the hub of the flow, three large log columns reach skyward in an atrium overlooked by the offices above, capped by a generous 'trough' of light which folds down to grade on the western side of the space. In the southwestern corner of the atrium a perforated metal shroud engages a basic hydraulic elevator, surrounded by a garden of bamboo. On the east a reception lounge and workstation bask in the verticality of the room. Wrapped in maple veneered paneling in soft contrast with the rustic logs, the space is further energized by two layers of lighting suspended dramatically on skewed cable filaments. This space has the quiet vibrancy of a zen garden, yet holds a sense of familiarity rooted in the dynamic lobby of the historic Old Faithful Inn.

Hallway.

On level two and three, custom maple veneered and natural particle board workstations surround the 'canyon'. These studios for account executives, designers, and copywriters provide private work zones with complete computer and presentation surfaces which enjoy fantastic views to the town's surrounding mountain landscape. The sill of the strip window is at 4'-0" above finish floor and the window head is at 6'-2 1/2", so that the townscape is removed from the seated viewframe, preferring the panoramic the mountain vistas beyond. In addition to workstations, level two has a high-tech production processing room, a paste-up copy center and staff rest rooms. Level three has a fully equipped kitchen lunchroom looking south, a client reception area/product display area at the atrium edges, a library/think tank, and a grand presentation conference room. The third level gains sectional drama from its sloped and folded ceiling, which is a response to roof drainage patterns.

Exterior day.

Two distinctly different stair towers are used by staff more often than the elevator for short trips between levels. The south (main) tower has a 35' tall x 3" wide slot of glass set to greet the east light of morning; its light is modulated by open stair treads and landings of galvanized, pan-broken steel and an 'intensely' saturated red dividing wall. In the north stair a slash of west light reflects the detail of the south tower-stair treads are glu-lam beams with a natural OSB wafer-board clad dividing wall, giving a calm warmth to the passage. Simple moves give each stair space a unique experience. Similar pipe and cable railing details, daylight penetrations, and indirect night lighting strategies connect both spaces in essence.

Exterior entry side.

In this architecture, wood is dominant on both macro and micro levels: grand structural ideas and small craftsman-like details. This celebration of 'woodness' is most appropriate in considering issues of aesthetics, constructability, budget, and contextual relevance. At every level the Riddell building uses the romance of wood in awareness of historic precedent, and choreographs a poetry of light and view. This is a paradigm for a sensitive new vision of a town searching to define its architectural character--a building of its time striving to touch values of timelessness and 'place'.

Credits

• Text, Courtesy of the architect
• Photographs: Bill Timmerman