Charred Cedar and Two Twisted Gables: Assembly Archive's Wyoming Debut

A 3,800 sq ft house clad in charred cedar now stands in a four-acre meadow in Wyoming's Jackson Hole Valley, and it's the debut project from a firm founded by a Harvard design critic.

Thistle Creek House is the first built work from Assembly Archive, established by Rhode Island-based designer Evan Farley. Before setting up the practice, Farley worked for Barkow Leibinger in Berlin and collaborated with Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Howeler + Yoon. He teaches as a Design Critic in Architecture at both the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the Rhode Island School of Design. First houses from people with that résumé tend to announce themselves. This one whispers.

What does the house look like?

Superficially, the silhouette is traditional: two intersecting gables, rotated off a right angle so the rooms can capture the best views of the Teton Mountains. The reference point is agricultural. The house draws on the Teton Valley barns and cabins that once scattered the valley floor, though those barns rarely came with this pedigree of detailing.

The dark exterior comes from vertical yakisugi cladding — the traditional Japanese process of charring cedar to make it fire-, pest- and weather-resistant. The supplier is Japan-based Nakamoto Forestry, and the specific finish is Nakamoto's suyaki, which retains a layer of soot for added texture. Dark metal roofing and window frames complete the envelope.

How is the plan organised?

The smaller of the two volumes holds a double garage and utility area on the ground floor, with a self-contained studio guest suite above. The main volume contains three more bedrooms, including the principal suite.

Both volumes have galleried landings that look down on the entrance hall — a space carved out of the intersection of the two gabled structures. The ground floor shifts level with the terrain. The entrance hallway gives access to two staircases, and a private study sits well apart from the kitchen and living room.

The living room is the grand space. It steps down from the rest of the house and separates from the kitchen by a chimney breast. Large picture windows overlook the meadows and the mountains beyond.

What materials appear inside?

The interior palette runs warmer than the soot-black shell:

• traditional lye-washed fir
• white oak
• plaster
• stone and brick flooring on the ground floor

The source framing is modest: the focus on materiality and simple form aims to create a house rooted in its location, with a warmth and durability that respect the surroundings.

Jackson Hole has no shortage of spectacular houses mixing majesty with privilege in equal measure. Farley's bet, on this evidence, is that crafted restraint will outlast spectacle. Assembly Archive's next move will show whether a debut this quiet was a statement or a warm-up.