The Wyoming town of Jackson Hole continues to draw visitors year-round, and a transformational project within the Jackson Hole community, the HGA-designed history museum campus, is a new cultural destination that strengthens the region’s connections between the past, giving visitors another reason to visit.

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National interdisciplinary design firm HGA, along with Jackson Hole-based Prospect Studio, announced the completion of the reimagined Jackson Hole History Museum. History Jackson Hole, previously known as Jackson Hole Historical Society and Museum, establishes its new site as a cultural destination and an important local fixture for history, education, community gathering and conversation.

The new comprehensive campus effectively houses and puts on display HJH’s collection of 7,200 objects; 19,200 photographs; 8,200 records; and 460 oral histories, letting locals and visitors alike form a meaningful connection to the region and those who have inhabited it for millennia.

Located in downtown Jackson, Wyoming, the campus establishes a permanent home for the museum and is now the primary destination for the museum’s interactive exhibits, educational programming and special events, in addition to offering flexible space for community use by members and partners.

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The quarter-acre site features three structures centered around a three-story museum, with two stories aboveground and a basement level. In total, the campus comprises the 13,200-square-foot museum; two historic cabins; and integrated outdoor space within a design framework that highlights the natural, cultural and architectural past of the region while leveraging modern-day building performance and technology.

The museum campus is situated within a prominent, historic downtown Jackson block, partially protected by conservation easements and revered for its deep history, public green space and thriving local businesses. With funding for the project stemming from a public-private partnership, HGA worked closely with the History Jackson Hole team to conduct an energetic community engagement process to communicate design and sustainability strategies in order to build consensus across residents, indigenous communities and others. This process informed various aspects of the design, particularly as it tells the comprehensive narrative of the history of Jackson.

“Jackson Hole is a community brought together, enriched and strengthened by compelling connections to the history of the region and the preservation of its resources, and now the newly designed history museum campus furthers this vision by expanding its capacity and reach,” said Morgan Jaouen, executive director, History Jackson Hole.

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Drawing from Jackson’s signature Western aesthetic, the overall design of the museum building mirrors typologies of legacy stores on the block with glassy ground-floor frontage and punched windows on the second level. The design also features a covered boardwalk in sync with other town boardwalks, seamlessly connecting the museum to the rest of the central square.

The museum features an interactive photo wall called Windows on Jackson, a featured exhibit with faces of Jackson that, much like the objects throughout the museum, is meant to create moments of human connection to the history of Jackson. In the rotating exhibition space, an exhibit gathers the work of six contemporary Wind River artists whose artwork explores the relationship between earth, animals, humans and homelands.

The museum also features Native American art and exhibits. To highlight this connection, a mural on the west side of the museum was installed by Native American artist Nanibah Chacon, working in collaboration with the Eastern Shoshone Tribe. The concept brings attention to Shoshone language, Newe Daygwap, and recognizes its importance as a cultural knowledge essential to Shoshone peoples and their preservation of life and culture.

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Exhibit areas have two glass walls, one linking to the Greenspace and one linking to the rest of downtown, so passersby can see inside toward living history. A connection to the outdoors is further achieved via a ground-floor patio that houses both relocated log cabins that have been integrated into the overall circulation path, as well as a second-floor rooftop terrace for visitors to enjoy views of Snow King Mountain Resort and the surrounding hillside.