Calm Yourself in a Former Hippie Commune’s Tiny Hut

Need to relax? Check into this simple, secluded lodging at a New Mexico retreat and say, “Om”

February 22, 2014
Houzz Editorial Staff. Home design journalist writing about cool spaces, innovative trends, breaking news, industry analysis and humor.
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Rustic Exterior by Eckalizzi Design
Eckalizzi Design
Many people seeking a spiritual experience head to the Lama Foundation, on the site of a former hippie commune in New Mexico founded in the late 1960s that has transitioned into a yoga and spiritual retreat center. Ram Dass, the spiritual teacher who authored the seminal 1971 book Be Here Now used to hold seminars there. It’s an important, nearly untouched piece of land where visitors and pilgrims from all over the world stay to take classes, camp and connect with the sweeping views of valleys and mountaintops.
Rustic Landscape by Eckalizzi Design
Eckalizzi Design
Rustic Bedroom by Eckalizzi Design
Eckalizzi Design
Recently the community elders decided to build a hermit hut, a place of solitude where one or two guests could stay for a week or two during a meditation program. So they tapped husband and wife architects Stephen Eckert and Jade Polizzi to help design and build one.

In turn Eckert and Polizzi, both environmental design professors at the University of Colorado–Boulder, partnered with 16 of their students to design and build the structure as part of a class project.

The 100-square-foot hut sits on a mountain ridge in the small town of Questa, about a half hour north of Taos. The Lama Foundation’s main campus — and bathroom — is about 500 yards away through the pine trees.

The walls and built-in bed are all beetle-kill wood from Colorado with a natural stain. The team added green pigment to the stain to create the colored band. Knobs and hooks from Anthropologie line the colored board so guests can hang clothes, towels and other items.
Rustic Bedroom by Eckalizzi Design
Eckalizzi Design
The hut gets plenty of natural light, but four simple Edison bulbs illuminate the space at night. Eckert and his team made the bentwood trusses in his university woodshop. They laser-cut plywood panels to add geometric patterns to the interior.

The wooden box on the wall is a fold-up desk.
Rustic Bedroom by Eckalizzi Design
Eckalizzi Design
A drop-down ledge creates a writing or reading service that’s accessible by sitting on the edge of the bed.
Rustic Bedroom by Eckalizzi Design
Eckalizzi Design
More hooks line the entryway corner, where a small marine plywood bench creates a mudroom of sorts where guests can take off their shoes.

The team used tile scraps to create the floor pattern based on a mandala from Dass’ Be Here Now book. (A mandala is a geometric symbol used in Hinduism and Buddhism.)

The team found the mahogany doors at an architectural salvage yard and refinished them.
Rustic Bedroom by Eckalizzi Design
Eckalizzi Design
They laser cut a mandala on wallboards that the students then pieced together like a puzzle onsite.
Rustic Exterior by Eckalizzi Design
Eckalizzi Design
Rustic Exterior by Eckalizzi Design
Eckalizzi Design
A fire swept through the community around 15 or 20 years ago, destroying most of the structures, which were straw bale and straw clay. So they chose HardiePlank siding because of its flame-retardant characteristics.

The post came from a fallen juniper tree nearby. “It’s completely rot resistant and will last many years,” says Eckert, shown here with wife Jade Polizzi. The small deck and steps are ipe wood, and the log benches were crafted from downed trees also found on the property.

Eckert says they spent about $11,000 on materials and it took about six weeks to build the hut.


More: See more creative small getaways

Check out a time-lapse video of the project:
Comment47
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Comments (47)
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josey2
too small to eat in , etc. but the design is really nice if you look at the details. not really rustic at all
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trail6
This is a beautiful place. Nice. I'm sensing that some of you here are under the impression that you are meant to live in this hut with the ammenities and creature comforts of a home. Then, some of you are making fun of the place. This is a sacred and spiritual retreat or Ashram. Its not intended to be as comfortable as some people might expect. This is the type of place that you would expect to find something like a 10-day silent meditation. That is where you would discover your relaxiation and comfort. Actually, some people might find that hut, too relaxing for their purpose of going to a place like that.
   
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katelyn1953
I get that it's intent is as a spiritual retreat, but 500 yards at 2am, makes me think that since meditation and self discovery are internal processes, and I am not a yogi, I'd rather do my discovering where there are "facilities" NEAR by. Even a trench latrine would be better than a 500 yard walk in the middle of the night. Unless there is an old fashioned chamber pot under the bed?
   

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