The Sequoias is a 42-acre senior living community nestled among the redwoods of the Windy Hill Open Preserve in Portola Valley. Early master plan inspiration was drawn from the planning concepts of dense urban villages in China and the beauty of palatial Japanese architecture to establish a campus that harmonized with the rural setting. The project objective was to establish a cohesive design strategy that would advance the campus experience in alignment with industry trends, business objectives, and staff/resident input while reintroducing contemporary Asian features.
Cherry wood tones and marble counters sweep forward to a Reception Desk enabled for convertible social distancing measures and flanked by Asian inspired artwork. A resident Arts/Crafts Room was relocated to the main resident thoroughfare at the ground floor to provide inspiring views across the treetops.
The original design of the Great Room lacked a sense of human scale, with the vaulted ceiling overpowering the room. The design team took care to wrap the previously painted-over open post and beam construction with a true wood wallcovering revitalizing the structure of the room while introducing a soffit to provide much needed indirect and directional lighting to the room. The red and caramel tones warm the room balancing with the accents of the dark brown carpet, taupe woven wallcovering, and soft sea blue tile.
The design team replaced the original wrought iron fireplace with a soft sea blue tile that mirrors texture designs found on the campus within the original building design. The furniture was hand selected to accommodate the specific requirements of seniors, including the seat height, arm height, and seat depth to ease sitting down and getting up. Custom cabinetry was thoughtfully designed to complement the architecture while giving a hidden home to the treasures of cocktail hours, games, and hundreds of puzzles.
Photography: David Matheson
Sequoias Portola Valley Remodel
Category
Heal
Description
Location: Portola Valley, CA
Design Team: Taylor Design
Matt Johnson, Taylor Design, Principal
Stephanie L'Estrange, Taylor Design, Project Director
Mackenzie Bray, Taylor Design, Project Architect
Ravi Rao, Taylor Design, Lead Interior Designer
Marcus Simons, Taylor Design, Job Captain