Black Butte Ranch – an iconic Oregon resort community located near Sisters, Oregon – sits at the gateway to Oregon’s high desert. First planned in the early 1970s, the Ranch is a vacation destination for many, and a year-round home for some. The original architecture is iconic “solar architecture” of its period, and the spectacular natural setting is unrivaled.
The new Lodge Area Redevelopment replaces the well-worn existing pool facility and will revive the “heart of the Ranch.” The magnificent site sits between the original modernist Ranch buildings from the early 1970s: the award winning Country House Condominiums and the Lodge. The new design is inspired by both the barn-like simplicity of the Country House Condominiums and the abstracted landform roof lines of the Lodge, while evolving the Ranch’s building tradition into a progressive vision for the future and reinforcing its reputation as a venerable Central Oregon resort.
The site design, developed with Walker Macy Landscape Architects, continues the classic Black Butte Ranch arrival sequence: sweeping movement traveling through the site and unfolding views of the Cascade Mountains. The new buildings are arranged along an arcing pathway connecting a renovated parking area to the Lodge with each new building having its entry on this path. The openings of the architecture become apertures for viewing the Central Oregon landscape, including a soon-to-be classic Ranch view of the new swimming pool on axis with nearby Mt. Washington.