courtesy THA Architecture
Black Butte Ranch, a resort community established more than 40 years ago in a sublime alpine environment near Sisters, Oregon, has approved the first phase redevelopment plan to renew the heart of the 1,800-acre ranch. Designed by Portland, Oregon-based THA Architecture, the new complex comprises a new pool house, swimming pool, bistro with poolside seating, and a recreation center set within an updated landscape design.
First planned in the early 1970s, the Ranch is a vacation destination for many and a year-round home for some. The new pool complex replaces the well-worn existing pool facility and orients the new buildings to more fully embrace the Ranch’s magnificent location at the gateway to Oregon’s high desert within the Cascade Mountains.
courtesy THA Architecture
The Ranch’s original, award-winning modernist buildings — the Country House Condominiums and the Black Butte Main Lodge — provide the architectural setting for the new complex and inspire a contemporary response. The design references both the condominium’s barn-like simplicity and the lodge’s abstracted landform roof lines, while evolving the Ranch’s design tradition into a progressive vision for the future that reinforces its reputation as a venerable Central Oregon resort.
courtesy THA Architecture
The design pays equal attention to how the new buildings relate to the landscape. The site design, developed with Walker Macy Landscape Architects, extends the defining Black Butte Ranch arrival sequence of sweeping movements traveling through the landscape and unfolding views of the Cascades. The new buildings are arranged along an arcing pathway connecting a renovated parking area to the Lodge. The openings of the architecture become apertures for viewing the landscape, including what will become the classic Ranch view: the new swimming pool on axis with nearby Mount Washington framed by the covered entry breezeway.
courtesy THA Architecture
Environmental Stewardship
THA’s focus on creating a beautiful visitor experience through a regional architecture with a strong connection to the landscape resulted in a design that is innately energy efficient and environmentally responsive. The buildings and site plan work with the local micro climate to enhance the Ranch’s tradition of environmental stewardship. Design features include the following:
* Landscaping with native plants for drought tolerance, habitat creation, and celebration of place
- Improved riparian habitat at lake edge
- Shielded light fixtures to preserve “dark skies” and minimize light pollution
- Encouraging bicycle use and walking through connectivity with existing Ranch trails and convenient bicycle parking
- Building with regional materials that reduce transportation impacts, boost local economy, and express northwest regional architecture
- Design with passive solar energy strategies for window locations and roof overhangs — block summer to aid in summer cooling, welcome winter sun to assist winter heating
- Harvest daylight to reduce electric lighting loads and use natural light for beautiful interiors connected to the outdoors
- Utilize massive materials in interiors such as concrete floors and walls to hold heat to assist in keeping interior temperatures naturally stable
- Use comfortable, in-floor radiant heating for Pool House and Bistro, powered by geothermal heat pump
- Natural ventilation for cooling and connection to outdoors
- High quality indoor environments with healthy indoor air quality and exceptional views
