Coeur d'Alene Tribe Resort Expansion

Immersive Resort Experience

Coeur d'Alene Tribe Resort Expansion

Worley, ID

Reconnecting to Place

In collaboration with a new generation of visionary Tribal leaders, Mithun helped significantly expand their aging resort property into a four-star hotel and spa with strong connections to the land that has been their home since time immemorial. The buildings are sited at the ecotone between forest and Palouse prairie environments – providing visual and physical access to nature not typically seen in a resort of this kind.

Engaging Future Generations

To attract and retain a broad clientele, the team implemented a modern vocabulary of healthy, warm and regionally appropriate materials, providing a biophilic connection to place. Handmade pieces by tribal artisans represent the community’s traditions and future.

Expressing Values Through Design

The Tribe’s commitment to sustainable use of resources and respect for the land is evident throughout the building and site. The LEED Gold certified project includes on-site tertiary treatment of wastewater with reuse for irrigation.

Client

Coeur d'Alene Tribe

Overview

Transformation of existing resort with new venues for dining, wellness and entertainment, as well as extensive landscape and sustainable improvements

Program

98-room hotel, spa, two restaurants, outdoor dining and fireplace, amphitheater and interpretive trails

Size

170,000 sf; 27 acres

Sustainable Metrics

LEED Gold, Certified

Completion Date

2011

Services

Architecture, Interior Design, Landscape Architecture

Awards

ASLA Washington Chapter Professional Awards, Merit Award, General Design, 2012

IIDA Northern Pacific Chapter INawards, Top Honor, Design IN Hospitality, 2011

The Night Sky Courtyard provides a relaxing, tranquil place for guests to enjoy a beverage and the warm radiance of the fire.

At the heart of the project, the gathering space includes the welcome area and hotel lobby, where all the elements come together with subtle symbolism: the Palouse, the forest, and the constant reminder of the water source, Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Inspired by the view through a densely planted forest, the entrance to the TS’ELUSM Steakhouse features a wall of wood planks and glowing resin.

Composed of torched red oak and perforated steel, the hotel check-in desk provides a comfortable first point of contact for the resort’s guests.

Featured at the transition from the light filled Skycatcher space to the gaming entrance, a mural illustrates the athleticism, grace and endurance necessary for successful hunting, fishing and gathering.

Hn’ya’(pqi’n’n, meaning "A Gathering Place" is a restaurant with a focus directed to the landscape and dance circle. Playing off of the geometry of the dance circle in the adjacent Palouse landscape, this restaurant celebrates the idea of gathering through its spatial configuration.

In the Steakhouse, a guest may be seated at tables with views to the exterior or nestled into warmly secluded booths canopied with natural, recycled wood

The Chief Suite provides an open and luxurious hotel room experience. Expansive vistas to the Circling Raven Golf Course and foothills of the mountains beyond are featured in guest suites.

Expansive windows provide a vista to the rolling Palouse or Wetland Forest landscapes, connecting each guest with the beauty and spirit of the surrounding environment. A custom designed Pendleton blanket is featured in each guest suite.

A simple, refined palette of materials was used when creating spaces, including: corten steel, fir paneling, apple-plywood cabinetry, porcelain tile, plaster and expansive glazing.

Seen from the hotel lobby, the Palouse Courtyard features sculptural planters filled with native Palouse plantings.

Natural daylighting, local stone and elements of the earth are featured in the spa reception.

Water flow and pool in the spa reception reinforce elements of natural relaxation.

Spa Sswakwa’q’n features ten quiet treatment rooms that surround an exterior courtyard with saunas and hot and cold plunge pools.

The Vichy Shower room provides a luxurious and relaxing treatment experience for spa guests.

An LED art installation on both the ceiling and floor represents the complete watershed flowing to Lake Coeur d’Alene, honoring the importance of water in the life of its people.

A view of the Night Sky Courtyard from the Steakhouse

With views opening upward and a symbolic "night sky wall," this space celebrates the beauty of a star-filled night and provides a distinct outdoor dining experience.

A view from the Palouse Courtyard, the transparent design of the Skycatcher shows through to the native Palouse landscape.

A transparent “bridge” straddles the Palouse and Wetland forest, and immerses guests within the Tribe’s ancestral landscapes.

An ethnobotanic thread weaves itself across the landscape, connecting the diverse ecosystems of the rolling Palouse hills and wetland forest.

An internally illuminated water feature flows to the entry point to the resort, weaving together multiple geometries within the architecture and landscape design.

The 101-foot high Eagle Staff tower marks the entry point to the resort expansion while responding to the scale of the surrounding landscape. It serves as a representation of the traditional Eagle Staff carried by Coeur d’Alene Tribal members, known as "The Indian Flag" or the "Tattered Flag."

Immersive Resort Experience

Coeur d'Alene Tribe Resort Expansion