Big Sky Town Center is located in the heart of Big Sky, Montana, a world class ski and outdoor pursuits community. With about 25% open space, trails, and parkland, the Town Center's development philosophy is sensitive and responsive to the outstanding natural values of the region. The goal of creating a walkable community with sidewalks, tree-lined boulevards, trails, and services near the residences has been the defining feature of the plan from the beginning. The client approved a project to add approximately 500 residences, including 120 condos above the commercial district, and an estimated 375,000 square feet of commercial space was approved, including 36,000 square feet for civic uses such as a performing arts center, emergency medical facilities, community center, and more. Finally, about 150 lodging rooms will be available in the Town Center.

The Plaza has long been identified as the civic heart of Town Center and the impetus for completing The Project was the planned construction of The Wilson Hotel. Early master planning exercises identified community needs such as space for concerts, a farmers market, trail connections, food truck staging, art festivals, a playground, and space for nighttime programming. Design 5 Landscape Architecture led the project through several rounds of design and sought input from several stakeholders included the Big Sky Community Organization, the Arts Council and Lone Mountain Land Company.

 

During a yearlong design effort, multiple design concepts were presented to the client and the preferred plan was selected from three schemes. The final design focused on highlighting views to Lone Peak, showing off an art installation from Deborah Butterfield, and creating multi-use space in the heart of the plaza. The plan's ability to quickly accommodate different uses set it apart from previous park spaces in Town Center. The Plaza draws its success from four major elements: softscape, hardscape, light, and heat.

Design 5 integrated a native plant palette into every corner of the project. Throughout the year, the perennials, shrubs and trees show off colorful blooms and backdrop the entire space in soft textures while simultaneously framing views to Lone Peak. The team of designers integrated light fixtures into completely custom poles and structures that also supported overhead string lighting and distributed audio speakers. The lighting plan posed a fun challenge to the design team as well as they needed to accommodate for nighttime gathering and shopping while not shining direct light into adjacent hotel rooms. Shielded lights and soft fixtures were used to focus the light onto travel lanes and a central gathering space.

The plaza also had to accommodate use from sunrise to well after sunset. Evenings cool down quickly and to extend the useful hours of the plaza the design team created two large custom fire pits into the main patio and provided user-activated overhead heaters around the entire southern half of the patio. The heat elements are also critical given that the plaza's most busy time of year is during ski season.

When designing the hardscapes Design 5 had to maintain four-season usability and the materials had to stand up to the harsh conditions dished out by mother nature and maintenance equipment. Design 5 chose specific pavers for their durability under extreme freeze/thaw conditions and ability to handle light traffic from maintenance vehicles; snow plowing is an almost daily occurrence in Big Sky. Design 5 and the Civil team were also tasked with making the entire perimeter of the plaza fire truck accessible. To accommodate this load and lend some design interest, the team designed a paving pattern that utilized broom finished and Top-Cast treated concrete. The broom finish lends recognizable and consistent patterning to the plaza while the Top-Cast treated concrete calls attention to a major trail connection that runs through the west side of the plaza.

The plaza has been a huge success and energy continues to build as more projects are built out around the plaza. "We're really proud of the outcome. We love seeing our work wrapped into the amazing arts, shopping, and sports scene in Big Sky" say Design 5 Principal Troy Scherer. "We've been working on Town Center projects for more than 15 years and this is another step in making Big Sky a world class destination".