The Lobby at The Sylvan Lodge

In June, Noble House Hotels & Resorts opened The Sylvan Lodge, a new-build, 38-room luxury retreat located within the Snake River Sporting Club in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Set on nearly one thousand acres of private wilderness along the Snake River and Bridger-Teton National Forest, the lodge offers guests a variety of outdoor activities, a wellness center, rooftop hot tubs, and residential-style suites. The focal point of The Sylvan Lodge’s interior is a two-story lobby that reflects the natural surroundings and the meaning of sylvan—“of or inhabiting the woods.”

To suggest the look and feel of a mature forest, the interior design team at TruexCullins selected elements such as character-grade white oak for the floor and ceiling, indigenous stone for the fireplace, deep evergreen board-and-batten, and a neutral palette of creams and browns, along with works by regional artists depicting the landscape and wildlife. “We used as many local products and materials as we could, while creating a retreat that feels like an extension of your living room,” said Kim Deetjen, ASID, principal at TruexCullins. “We wanted guests to feel like they had entered a space where they’d want to linger.”

Toward that end, the design team also took a thoughtful approach to the lobby lighting, with natural light from second-story windows during the day and illumination from a distinctive chandelier in the evening. “We combined uplighting from the timber columns with downlighting that accents the furnishings,” said Deetjen. Taking stock in the overall project, Deetjen said she’s “proud of the quality across the board—the craftsmanship, furnishings, and design.” Among the suppliers who contributed to that quality were Bar None Designs, Teton Flooring, Windy Ledge Metal Works, and Amadi Carpets.

Design Details

1. Abstracting Nature: The design of the chandelier, sourced from A-Tube Nano Duo by Studio Italia Design, “was inspired by the size and scale of the trees that rise up and the light that comes down through them,” said Deetjen. “It also suggests icicles, but in our work, we’re always abstracting these things as opposed to depicting them literally.”
    
2. Owner Input: The balcony railing incorporates an original Jackson Hole Mountain Resort tram cable acquired by Snake River Sporting Club owner Christopher Swann, who was very “hands-on” with the hotel’s design. “It was important to him that we use it in this project, so we polished it up, and it forms a guardrail,” Deetjen explained.
    
3. Local Stone: The two-sided fireplace connects the lobby and check-in areas to the restaurant and features moss rock from Montana. The hearth is a free-form boulder that is partly covered in lichen that gives it warm orange tones. “The fireplace stone was one of the first decisions we made, because we knew the impact it would have on the space,” said Deetjen.
    
4. Innovative Art: TruexCullins featured the work of local photographer Ryan Sheets of Sheets Studios, whose square and linear black-and-white photographs of indigenous tree foliage were printed on translucent film and mounted between two sheets of glass. The artwork glows softly from both sides on the two-sided shelving, evoking the beautiful lighting effects one experiences in the forest.
    
5. First Impression: The backdrop of the check-in desk is a layered and multi-dimensional art installation, which celebrates the name of the lodge and the beauty of the surrounding woodlands. It combines the work of three Jackson, Wyoming artists: sculptor and visual artist Ben Roth, photographer Ryan Sheets, and Amy McPhee of the Flower Bar, who changes out the live plants to match the native flora of each season.