Spotlight: Designer Ruben Caldwell

“From a design perspective, Scribner’s is something I want to return to, in terms of its simplicity... There’s a simple honesty to Scribner’s — in the aesthetic and the design direction — that I’ve grown to appreciate more and more.”

If you’re reading this paper at Scribner’s Catskill Lodge, stop for a moment and take a look around. Notice the warmth of the pine floors, the varied and vintage-esque places to curl up with a book, the Persian rugs. These design accents can be credited to award-winning hospitality design collective, Studio Tack, of which architect Ruben Caldwell is a founding partner. 

After eight years of building houses in Houston and Lake Tahoe, Caldwell realized that perhaps he wasn’t meant to be a carpenter after witnessing his friend get injured by a power tool.

“I thought I should probably do something that was maybe a little more computer-based instead,” he says.

A tough break for his friend, but a gain for the world of hospitality design. It was the push Caldwell needed to pursue his passion for architectural design and he enrolled in graduate school at Columbia. There, he encountered Leigh Salem and Brian Smith, with whom, along with Jou-Yie Chou, he founded  Studio Tack, in 2012.

When Studio Tack took on the design for Scribner’s Catskill Lodge, Caldwell admits that they didn’t expect it to make the impact that it has. “We didn’t really realize the reception that it would get, especially with folks from New York City,” he says. “Or how the Catskills as a weekend destination would really explode in the three years or so after Scribner’s opened. The Scribner’s team has done a great job of really elevating the property beyond what we originally imagined through the design. It’s been really exciting to see it evolve into something that isn’t just kind of like a weird camping retreat in the woods, but is appreciated by a larger swath of the population.”

Caldwell recalls just how quirky the building, a 1960s-era motor lodge, was when they began the project. The different rooms were heavily themed — one had a Southwest aesthetic and another, which they nicknamed the “Edelweiss Room,” was like a Swiss mountain lodge on steroids. “My personal favorite, which hadn’t been opened in a long time, was the Future Room, which was just completely covered in mirrors,” says Caldwell. 

Studio Tack’s design for Scribner’s intentionally retained a cozy ski lodge vibe, but with a simpler, modern aesthetic that could endure without feeling dated. Central to the lodge’s communal ethos, was ensuring that there were plenty of places for just hanging out and lounging outside of the individual rooms. “The idea was to create as many layered experiences as possible within the space without being kind of crazy about it.”

Though Caldwell is now based in Jackson, Wyoming — home to one of Studio Tack’s more recent projects, Anvil Hotel — he was raised in upstate New York in the Adirondacks. Having known the region for so long, he’s watched with curiosity as towns outside of New York City have begun to flourish thanks to weekend tourism from city-dwellers. “I think the Catskills were, and maybe still are, an economically challenged region,” he says. “Places like Scribner’s are really helping to revive the local economy.”

As for Caldwell’s neighborhood highlights? He pinpoints a visit to Kaaterskill Falls, skiing at the nearby Hunter Mountain, and the winding canyon drive up into Tannersville framed by thick foliage. “There are just so many amazing natural activities around Scribner’s,” he says. “Whenever I went up there for site visits during construction, I’d always drive through Phoenicia and fish on the Esopus Creek for a while.” And, of course, he can’t resist a stop for hearty fare at the historic Phoenicia Diner. 
While Caldwell and co. have notched up many more hospitality locales since Scribner’s, he says that the Catskills project is still close to his heart. “From a design perspective, Scribner’s is something I want to return to, in terms of its simplicity. We’ve been exploring more complicated collaborations over the years, and some of that is really positive and interesting, but there’s a simple honesty to Scribner’s – in the aesthetic and the design direction – that I’ve grown to appreciate more and more.” 

By Mikki Brammer

Photography by Evan Mann & Read McKendree

Rendering courtesy of Studio Tack