The Snow King Observatory, a mountaintop research and education facility designed by Farmer Payne Architects and GALCZYNSKI, has won the Popular Choice Award in the Architecture + Learning category at the 2025 Architizer A+Awards, the largest global awards program for architecture and design.

Located at 7,808 feet atop Snow King Mountain, just above Jackson, Wyoming, this 4,400-square-foot facility is the first public and ADA-accessible observatory in North America featuring a one-meter telescope located at the summit of a ski resort.

“An observatory design concept was established before there was a client,” says Jakub Galczynski, Principal at GALCZYNSKI. “As designers, we are sometimes called to create our own opportunities—to envision and present ideas less considered.”

Merging science, architecture, and accessibility

The observatory houses a Planewave CDK1000 telescope mounted on an isolated 20-foot concrete pier, a 35-seat planetarium with an 8-meter dome by SPITZ, a 40-seat auditorium, and an outdoor rooftop deck for portable telescope use. Its building design balances durability and minimal environmental impact, with:

• A low-profile structure preserving views of the Teton Range
  
  

• Dark-sky building design strategies, including a large roof overhang to shade interior light from entering the night sky and exterior responsive lighting.
  
  

• A white membrane roof to reduce solar heat gain and minimize telescope thermal distortion
  
  

• High-performance wall assemblies to reduce energy, while canceling Planetarium and Auditorium acoustics from entering the natural surroundings.

The Observatory is accessible by gondola or a 1,600-foot hike, offering year-round public access.

A beacon for discovery and education

The observatory opened in June 2024 with keynote remarks from Bill Nye, “The Science Guy”, and has since hosted daily educational programming, public star talks, and scientific research ranging from satellite photometry to multi-filter galaxy imaging. Its location, within the first designated International Dark Sky Community, provides ideal stargazing conditions due to high altitude, low humidity, and limited light pollution.

The project was made possible through the leadership and funding of Max C. Chapman Jr., whose commitment to public science access helped bring the observatory from concept to reality.

About the Architizer A+Awards

Now in its 13th year, the Architizer A+Awards is the world’s largest architecture award program, reaching an audience of more than 400 million people worldwide. Winners were selected by a distinguished jury featuring leading architects such as Kongjian Yu, Evelyn Lee, and James Corner, along with cultural influencers like Hans Ulrich Obrist, and by public vote held from May 5-16, 2025.