Adaptive Reuse of an Historic Residence · Tomales, CA

Blue Mountain Meditation Center

Adaptive reuse, restoration and addition to a turn of the century bed and breakfast into a small hotel/retreat house. The project addition included meeting rooms, meditation hall, dining, and commercial kitchen. The site design included outdoor small group meeting areas and gardens for contemplation. Preservation, energy efficiency and ecologically sound materials and construction practices were central to the philosophy of the client and therefore the project. The site is only three miles from the San Andreas earthquake fault that caused so much devastation to San Francisco in 1906 so the existing post and pier foundation was replaced with a substantial foundation exceeding minimum code requirements and based on performance based criteria.

Cellulose insulation made from recycled paper was added to all walls, roof and floor areas. Windows were changed to high efficiency windows with pultruded fiberglass frames and glazing with argon fill and double low E glass. Salvaged high quality fire rated interior doors, hardware and light fixtures were reused from a locally deconstructed building. The area is subject to wild fires so the siding and roofing are of fire resistant low maintenance cement fiber board and shingles. The heating system is a high efficiency hot water base board in existing rooms and radiant floor for new slab areas. The system allows each room to be separately controlled since occupancy varies.

Landscaping is drought tolerant and mostly native. Food peels and scraps will be composted. Paved areas are of compacted crushed rock for permeability of rain water. Recycled plastic lumber is used for exterior stairs, deck boards and trim.

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