January 16, 2024

Idaho ski-hotel employs mass timber to redefine mountain architecture

Photos by Jeremy Bittermann [enlarge]

The “ski-in, ski-out hotel” provides a modern take on lodge-style on-slope accommodations.

Humbird, a majority mass timber destination hotel and hospitality events venue, opened at Schweitzer Mountain Resort in northern Idaho in 2022.

The 66,580-square-foot hotel anchors the resort, which is nestled just outside of Sandpoint and is set within the Rocky Mountains at the nexus of the Selkirk and Cabinet mountain ranges.

The lodge-style building was designed by Portland-based architect Skylab with a view to “redefine destination mountain architecture.”

The hotel is strategically placed among a group of older buildings with the purpose of transforming the predictable resort experience into a European-inspired mountain village. Siting the building this way has united a formally disparate group of properties that are now connected by narrow walkable streets and knit together with multiple covered parking areas.

The boutique hotel has 31 guest rooms and amenity spaces that include a grand lobby with fireplace, 50-seat restaurant and adjacent bar and lounge, and a communal living room space. Other amenities include an indoor retreat/co-working space, a small fitness facility and a third-floor outdoor terrace with an oversized hot tub affording views of the surrounding mountain landscape and Lake Pend Oreille.

[enlarge]

The hotel’s mass timber frame is exposed in communal areas, fostering a sense of warmth inside.

The exterior of the hotel is expressed through board-formed concrete, metal panels, large expanses of glass, and glimpses of mass timber wood ceilings inside.

Mass timber structural elements are evident and highlighted throughout the interior to encourage a sense of enclosure and warmth. Primary gathering spaces feature exposed cross-laminated timber (CLT) — including ceiling planes, glulam beams and columns — to deliver a modern take on a familiar lodge aesthetic via the use of next generation construction technologies. CLT is also employed in the restaurant and dining area.

Skylab says mass timber was selected for the project because of its ties to the logging history of the area, as well as being inherently beautiful and sustainable.

Interiors also take inspiration from nostalgic ski equipment and fashion, including the bright ski suits of the late 20th century, as well as local memorabilia.

Guest rooms are arranged over three floors, offering views of Lake Pend Oreille. Each room, like other public spaces in the hotel, displays historic photos of the area, complete with descriptive narratives to honor and integrate local culture into the guest's experience.

Construction began on Humbird in spring 2019.

The project team also includes Schweitzer Mountain Resort, owner; Jackson Contractor Group, general contractor; THK Associates, landscape architect; Listen Acoustics; acoustical engineer; Marx Okubo, ADA consultant; James Sewell Associates and T-O Engineers (now part of Ardurra Group), civil engineers; Code Unlimited, code consultant; DCW, cost consultant; Little Hands of Stone, cost creative agency; Interface Engineering, electrical engineer; RWDI, envelope; Allwest, Budinger & Associates, and GeoEngineers, geotechnical engineers; Pact, graphic design; Gilkey Restaurant Consulting Group and Seattle Restaurants, kitchen design; Interface, lighting; Interface Engineering, mechanical engineer; OAC, owner's representative; JLC Architecture Consulting, specification writer; and DCI, structural engineer.