The timber frame pavilion at the Dharmakaya Wellness Center is located high in the Catskill Mountains of New York, and was the last of a planned group of buildings at the center that host wellness, yoga, and meditation retreats that are open to the public.

“The Wellness Center had a vision to build this outdoor pavilion space and they reached out to us to help them realize it. We recommended that New Energy Works provide the timber frame because of a relationship we had built working together on other projects in the past,” explained Daniel J. Salvatore of PC Construction, the project superintendent on the pavilion. “The pavilion space is intended to be used as a functional outdoor area for the activities Dharmakaya offers to guests visiting the wellness center which include meditation, yoga, and various other spiritual trainings.”

Perched high on a hillside in Cragsmoor, a rural corner of New York State just north of New York City, the ninety-acre campus of the wellness center is as inspiring as it is breathtaking. Far away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, the grounds of the center are tailored to promote a feeling of calm serenity in a quiet natural setting.

Bryan Bleier from our HPEz team and Kyle Barber from our design team recently attended the 16th annual PhiusCon (formerly North American Passive House Conference) at the historic Palmer House in Chicago IL. The guys specifically attended this year’s conference to connect with like-minded professionals in the industry and talk about New Energy Works investment in our High Performance Made Easier ™ (HPEz) enclosure systems as well as the teams ongoing commitment to develop sustainable and accessible higher performing homes.

PhiusCon is the leading passive building conference for climate-specific zero energy design, construction, and building science expertise. The conference is presented by parent organization Phius which is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization committed to decarbonizing the built environment by making high-performance passive building the mainstream market standard. Phius also certifies the majority of passive house projects in North America with their locally tailored, globally applicable passive building standard.

The hotel & Spa Del Monte Lodge wanted to refresh their tastefully modest building in the historic village setting of Pittsford New York with a new porte-cochere that conveyed the elegance of the hotel and spa while harkening to the contextual design elements of the area. Andrew Van Roo the Director of Design & Construction for Del Monte Group and his team thought the best way to address the main entrance, and specifically the space that leads directly into the lobby and reception desk area, was with a timeless timber frame design.

The building itself is gracefully understated featuring a mostly neutral color palate with details that are relatively subdued. To accentuate the existing aesthetic of the building the Del Monte Group’s design team thought there was an opportunity to insert a new structural design element into the overall hotel & spa complex to make an impactful statement in the main entry area that would give the best initial impression when a guest first arrives.