Zen Garden House in Crestone, Colorado by David Jay Weiner, Architect, P.C.

Article source: David Jay Weiner, Architect, P.C.

This project is a response to a client’s desire to build a small retreat in the high dessert of the San Luis Valley (elevation +8,500 ft.) with stunning views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the Great Sand Dunes National Monument.  The area is known for its serenity and environmental uniqueness.  The house is designed to not only respond to that environment but also to take advantage of the unique spirituality of the site.

Crestone side elevation (Images Courtesy Bill Ellzey)

• Architect: David Jay Weiner, Architect, P.C.
• Name of Project: Zen Garden House
• Location: Crestone, Colorado
• Structural Engineer: Robert Silman Associates, P.C.
• Contractor: Keith Teahen Construction
• Photographer: Bill Ellzey

The house is conceived as a single volumetric enclosure that wraps and folds around itself to form and define three major interior spaces and tie the house to the landscape.  The primary interior space is used for living, dining and cooking.  The two other spaces flanking the primary space serve as master bedroom suite and a traditional tatami mat meditation space adjacent to an outdoor room that is used as a Zen meditation rock garden.  Large areas of glass are used to capture the views, allow for passive solar orientation and blur the distinction between inside and outside.  The house is designed to be relatively inexpensive both in construction and maintenance. As the property is remote and off-the-grid system and, having more than 300 sun days per year, the 1,600 sq. ft. house is powered with a solar energy photovoltaic system.  The seven-acre site has been left undisturbed to the fullest extent possible.

• Standard wood and light weight metal frame construction
• Metal exterior corrugated siding
• Concrete slab on grade with radiant heating
• EPDM membrane roof
• Aluminum clad windows
• Painted gypsum board interior partitions
• Tatami mats – six mat room
• Driveway and parking area are gravel
• Photovoltaic solar panels

Crestone bedoom exterior (Images Courtesy Bill Ellzey)

Crestone rear elevation (Images Courtesy Bill Ellzey)

Crestone sunset (Images Courtesy Bill Ellzey)

Crestone distant view (Images Courtesy Bill Ellzey)

Crestone elk (Images Courtesy Bill Ellzey)

Corner (Images Courtesy Bill Ellzey)

Front view (Images Courtesy Bill Ellzey)

Panorama (Images Courtesy Bill Ellzey)

Interior View (Images Courtesy Bill Ellzey)

Crestone diagram

Crestone diagram

Floor plan

Tags: Colorado, Crestone

Category: House

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