Text description provided by the architects. Bardessono Hotel and Spa is a 62-room boutique luxury inn and spa nestled on a 4.9-acre site in Yountville, California in the heart of Napa Valley. Designed to be sustainable yet luxurious, Bardessono Hotel and Spa was one of only four properties in the U.S. to receive a LEED Platinum certification at the time of its opening. The hotel features 940 solar panels that provide approximately one half of the total electrical energy requirement of the property.
Reusable materials can be found throughout the hotel, including salvaged wood on the siding of the exterior walls and other areas inside the property. While maintenance of the wood was a project concern, using wood to capture the concepts inspired by wine barrels and the site’s surrounding wine country were too important to value engineer out, hence why salvaged wood became the material of choice. Recycled steel was also used on the building’s façade in the form of rusted steel panels, which were designed to represent the colors found in wine, the surrounding vineyards and the equipment used to care for them.
Out of all the reusable materials used, the stone in the arrival walkway carried a personal touch. Sourced from the former Bardessono family’s wine cellar, the local stone was salvaged and then cut into panels for a modern, welcoming touch to the arrival experience. To encourage guests to enjoy the region’s temperate climate, the ground-level guestrooms have private courtyards that feature outdoor showers and tubs. All guestrooms include large dual-pane glass windows which are designed to take advantage of natural light while controlling glare and yielding warmth during the colder seasons.
Other sustainable elements include rammed earth sculptural walls, 100-year-old olive trees and other drought-resistant landscaping, eighty-two 300-foot-deep geothermal wells to heat and cool guestrooms and provide hot water, automatically-controlled Venetian blinds to let in the sun early in the day and out later in the day, motion-detected electricity in guestrooms, dual-flush toilets and reuse and treatment of gray and black water for irrigation through Yountville’s water system.
To ensure the Bardessono Hotel and Spa’s upscale vision would fit within the context of Yountville’s charming small-town feel, the design approach focused on reducing the project scale with no buildings exceeding two levels. Buildings were designed with flat roofs to minimize blocking views of the surrounding hills and thoughtfully connected by courtyards, each with their own unique design concept. As guests travel throughout the property, they can encounter various landscape features and sculptures encouraging them to connect with their natural environment and retreat into a space that does the same.
