Nestled between the Santa Ynez mountains and the Pacific Ocean lies the Bacara Resort. This five star hotel offers their privileged guests golf, fine dining, spa treatments, swimming, and health facilities while they bask in the California warmth. The site is on 20 acres of land and features 400 guest rooms, four restaurants, a conference center, ballrooms, large swimming pools, and a laundry facility which will dryclean your suit and gown before you finish 18 holes.

ACCO took on this design/build project knowing that the challenges would be great, but our experience and capabilities would deliver a quality mechanical system. The facility utilizes two 400-ton air-cooled chillers and two high efficiency low NOx boilers with primary/ secondary pumps to deliver chilled and hot water in an underground trench, which is shared by various trades. Variable speed motors on the secondary pumps and air handler fans are used for increased energy savings. Four-pipe fan coil units serve the guestrooms while large air handling and make-up air units serve the public buildings. Pollution control units are being used to eliminate cooking odors and smoke from the adjacent guestrooms.

The mission style architecture with unobstructed views of the surroundings, as well as many of the structures being subterranean, offered very little room for normal design practices. The project is was completed by the summer of 2000.

Project Team

• Architect - Hill Glazier
• General Contractor - Hensel Phelps
• Mechanical Engineer - ACCO Engineered Systems