Tengoku Residence / CLB Architects

Architects: CLB Architects
Area: 4,739 ft²
Year: 2021
Photographs: John Ellis, Matthew Millman
Design Team: Kevin Burke, Eric Logan, Bryan James, Leo Naegele
Interior Architecture: Jen Mei, Cynthia Tibbitts
Project Manager: Leo Naegele
Structural Engineering: KLA
Mechanical Engineering: Energy One
Landscape Architecture: Agrostis
Lighting Design: Helius Lighting Group
General Contractor: Two Ocean Builders
City: Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Country: United States

Tengoku Residence, designed by CLB Architects in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is a 4,739 ft² vacation home that reinterprets mid-century modernism with influences from Japanese Zen gardens. Completed in 2021, the house is structured around three internal courtyards, with curved roof openings that shape daylight and emphasize a connection to nature. The S-shaped floor plan separates public and private spaces, optimizing natural ventilation and thermal efficiency through clerestory windows, triple-paned glazing, and insulated construction. The material palette, featuring oak flooring and white cabinetry, highlights the landscape, while curated furnishings, vintage pieces, and natural materials reflect the owners’ backgrounds in California and Hawaii.

Tengoku Residence introduces a distinct architectural language to Jackson Hole, merging mid-century modernism with Japanese influences. Designed by CLB Architects, the 4,739 ft² vacation home moves away from the region’s conventional mountain modern style, instead embracing a design inspired by the owners’ appreciation for Zen gardens and their personal histories in California and Hawaii. The residence is arranged around three internal courtyards, framing aspen trees and offering expansive northwest-facing views of the Teton Range and a nearby pond. Named Tengoku, the Japanese word for heaven, the home embodies a sense of serenity and deep engagement with its surroundings.

The design features an angular, linear façade, softened by curved roof openings that define the courtyards below. These guitar pick-shaped apertures, introduced at the client’s request for a curved architectural element, create shifting light patterns throughout the day. The curved forms are echoed in planters and landscape elements, reinforcing continuity across the site. Expansive glass walls integrate the home with its environment, carefully framing natural views.

An S-shaped floor plan delineates public and private spaces, creating a series of pavilion-like volumes with multiple exposures to daylight and cross-ventilation. Operable clerestory windows enhance passive cooling in warmer months, while triple-paned glazing, exterior rigid insulation, and full cavity insulation improve thermal efficiency in winter. A network of corridors connects the residence, unified by a continuous roofline featuring extended overhangs and thin roof edges, a reference to mid-century aesthetics. The courtyards are further emphasized by vertical western red cedar cladding, reinforcing the home’s relationship with the landscape.

The interior material palette remains intentionally restrained, featuring oak flooring and white cabinetry to maintain a focus on the surrounding environment. Contrasting elements introduce texture and depth, including a translucent amethyst stone slab embedded in a south-facing entry window, which captures light and changes in appearance throughout the day.

A double-sided fireplace, clad in Caracas blue limestone, is a central feature between the living room and den. The furnishings, a mix of vintage family pieces, Hawaiian monkey pod wood vessels, and selections from the owners’ Malibu residence, interact with local Jackson artwork and contemporary designs, including a Roche Bobois sofa.

Through its curvilinear roof openings, courtyard integration, and passive climate strategies, Tengoku Residence redefines modern mountain living, balancing Japanese aesthetics, mid-century principles, and regional context in a cohesive architectural composition.