Bardessono Spa Hotel is a boutique hotel and spa with 62 rooms, situated in the heart of California’s Yountville Napa Valley, spread across 4.9 hectares. Emphasizing sustainable design and luxury, Bardessono is one of only four hotels in the United States to achieve LEED Platinum certification right from its opening. The hotel features 940 solar panels, supplying half of its total energy needs.
Recycled materials are an integral feature throughout the hotel. Reclaimed wood is utilized for exterior walls and interior spaces, evoking imagery of wine barrels and nearby wineries, despite the maintenance challenges wood entails. Corroded recycled steel plates adorn the exterior walls, their warm hues reflecting the surrounding vineyards, wine, and shipping facilities.
Notably, the stone flooring in the inner walkways was sourced from the former Bardessono family wine cellar. These reclaimed local stones were cut into slabs to create a modern yet welcoming atmosphere. To encourage guests to embrace the mild local climate, ground-floor rooms feature private gardens with outdoor bathing facilities. Each room is fitted with double-glazed windows that maximize natural light while minimizing glare, and offer passive heating during cooler seasons.
Additional sustainable features include rammed earth walls, century-old olive trees, and drought-resistant landscaping. The hotel utilizes 82 geothermal wells, each 91.44 meters deep, to provide heating, cooling, and hot water to guest rooms. Automated soft blinds regulate natural light by opening early in the morning and closing at night. Guest rooms are equipped with motion-sensor lighting control, dual-flush toilets, and an integrated reclaimed water irrigation and sewage treatment system connected to Yountville’s municipal water infrastructure.
To harmonize the large scale of Bardessono Spa Hotel with the charming town atmosphere of Yountville, the building height is limited to two stories, reducing its visual impact. The flat roof design minimizes obstruction of the surrounding mountain views. The unique inner courtyard, closely integrated with the building, offers guests a variety of landscape scenes and sculptures, encouraging a connection between the natural environment and the hotel spaces as they stroll through.
Project Drawings
▲ General Layout Plan
▲ First Floor Plan
▲ Second Floor Plan
▲ Main Building Elevations
▲ Main Building Section Diagram
▲ Front View of Guest Room
▲ Room Sectional View
▲ Node Diagram
Project Information
Project Type: Hotel, Spa Facilities
Location: Yountville, USA
Architectural Firm: WATG
Area: 5,600 m²
Year: 2009
Photographer: Sam Dyess
Manufacturers: Autodesk, Acor, Trimble
Design Team: Ron Mitchell, Cynthia Jacobs, Susan Frieson, Noe Pegarido, Rebecca Ellis, Jennifer Hawkins
MEP Engineer: Ecotope
Structural Engineer: I.L. Gross
Municipal Engineer: Bartelt Engineering
Landscape Design: George W. Girvin Associates Inc
Consultants: O’Brien & Company (Green Building Consultant), Powell Padham Martin-Vegue (Interior Designer)
Partner: Cello Maudru (Contractor)
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