Located 45 minutes south of Seattle, a 4,200-acre master-planned development called Tehaleh is surrounded by trees, natural open spaces, and views of Mt. Rainier and the Olympic Mountains. The Bonny Lake, Wash., development, whose name means “highlands” or “land above,” is home to single-family residences including 55+ homes, schools, a community center, parks, and miles of interwoven trails.
Impressed by the development’s stunning natural surroundings and built-in intergenerational opportunities, Wesley Homes (Kent, Wash.), a not-for-profit, faith-based organization that provides housing and healthcare services for seniors in the Puget Sound region, recognized a tremendous opportunity for senior living there.
Kevin Anderson, president and CEO of Wesley Homes, says the organization was encouraged by the number of independent homes being sold to the 65+ community in addition to the designated 55+ homes. It spelled potential for both resident groups to become future residents at a senior living facility.
“We just knew that there was going to be a need [at Tehaleh] for senior care and services,” he says. “And we knew that it was going to grow.”
But Wesley Homes needed a partner—one that could offer financial and development support as well as share best practices and staff collaboration. It had a longstanding relationship with Presbyterian Homes (St. Paul, Minn.), a faith-based organization offering housing, services, and care for seniors, and its development company, Senior Housing Partners, which served as developer on Wesley’s previous projects.
Anderson invited Dan Lindh, Presbyterian’s president and CEO, to come out to Puget Sound in 2017 to visit the thriving Tehaleh development. Recognizing the site’s potential—and the stunning setting at its doorstep—the two organizations decided to form their first joint partnership to build Wesley at Tehaleh.
Opened in July 2021, the 400,000-square-foot senior living campus includes 136 independent living units, 42 catered living units (assisted living but with services provided under a home care license), 18 memory care units, and 32 senior apartments. In approaching the site, the project team sought to put nature center stage to tap into the area’s strong connection to the outdoors and outdoor activities.
Sustainable design solutions
To begin delivering on its nature-centric goal, the project team embraced regenerative design, an evolution of sustainable design that focuses not just on doing less harm but on doing more good. This approach was taken to meet long-term goals and ultimately to better align with today’s environmental challenges, says Amy Cheever, principal, director of strategy, and senior living practice leader at Cuningham (Minneapolis).
Specific strategies included the use of native plantings to reduce the need for irrigation, maintenance, and harmful fertilizers as well as operable windows to increase access to fresh air.
The campus is organized with one- and two-bedroom senior apartments for independent living residents located in the detached “Brownstone” building on the lower end of the significantly graded site, while the other housing offerings are grouped together in the “Lodge” on the top of the hill.
The latter surround the centerpiece of the campus—a 24,000-square-foot Town Center amenity building that features dining facilities, a bistro, hearth room, club, fitness and wellness center, maker space, library, theater, and chapel.
Mike Jones, project landscape architect at Cuningham (Minneapolis), the firm behind both the project’s architecture and landscape architecture, says maximizing views of Mt. Rainier was a main driver in how the amenity space was designed and oriented.
For example, upon entrance to the Town Center, residents and visitors can see outside through a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows with a view toward the mountains.
Maximizing landscape design and daylighting
Cheever says another goal from the client was maximizing access to daylight to compensate for the Pacific Northwest’s gray days as well as help bring the outdoors closer to residents, many of whom might not be able to get outside as much as they once did.
One solution is a “biophilia breezeway,” which connects the Town Center to one of the independent living wings and features a walkway on one side and a meeting room on the other. Glass walls on both sides allow a visual connection to the outdoors, including a dry creek bed. Operable windows add a sensory experience, including the sounds of water, wind, and birds and the scents of native plantings.
Another driver that informed the site plan was water. An existing ravine served as inspiration for a display of water as it flows through the campus. A dry creek bed appears to run through the Lodge but is designed so that the water actually drains into a stormwater feature pond or into a regional stormwater pond northeast of the campus.
Throughout the site, the landscape plan was designed to enhance existing plantings and entice residents to get out and move around. The use of native grasses throughout the campus, along with wildflowers and no-mow fescue, helps to reduce water needs.
The dense, drought-tolerant grasses require less irrigation, which also helps to save on long-term costs. Various landscape elements were incorporated into the site to promote further engagement, as well. These include an outdoor fireplace, amphitheater, and a pickleball court (the latter two cleverly masking fire access pads), as well as resident gardens and trails.
Another campus highlight is a memory care garden with a walking loop, tucked into an area behind the memory care wing on the ground floor and designed to engage the senses and encourage movement and interaction.
For example, Jones says, aspen trees in the garden will flutter and give the space a sound aspect, raised planting beds offer the opportunity for touch, and fragrant lavender delivers scent.
Creating a Pacific Northwest aesthetic
With so much emphasis on the natural setting and the locale of Wesley at Tehaleh, the project team focused on embracing a Pacific Northwest Modern style. The aesthetic, which originated in the 1930s and is still relevant today, would help meet the project goal of a timeless building design, says Cheever.
Those features include a large roof shed, warm wood accents, natural colors, and lots of daylight to blur the lines between the architecture and the landscape.
“We did not want a patchwork kind of building,” says Cheever. “This was really about letting nature shine through, and not about lots of colors.”
For the interiors of Wesley at Tehaleh, the approach was to complement the Pacific Northwest’s modern style using a neutral backdrop and strategic splashes of color including grays, blues, and greens, says Laura Leuschen, senior interior designer at Senior Lifestyle Design, the interior design branch of Presbyterian Homes & Services.
“Natural materials such as wood flooring and ceilings, stone-look tile, and neutral paints are incorporated in the design to evoke a sense of timelessness while also promoting that sense of the natural world.”
Additionally, she says the same modern style, wood tones, and colors are used throughout all types of care. “This makes the community feel like one large home as you move through the campus,” she says. “This continuity of design and architecture supports residents as they age in place.”
Natural solution at Wesley at Tehaleh
Ultimately, the design team achieved its nature-driven goals for the project through a gentle approach to the exquisite surroundings.
“Our thinking was, How do we respect nature, and with a light touch?” says Jones.
Joann Plockova is a freelance writer based between Jupiter, Fla., and Prague, Czech Republic. She can be reached at [email protected].
Project details for Wesley at Tehaleh:
Project name: Wesley at Tehaleh, a Shared Ministry with Presbyterian Homes
Project location: Bonney Lake, Wash.
Project completion date: July 2021
Owner: Presbyterian Homes & Services and Wesley Homes
Total building area: 401,000 sq. ft.
Total construction cost: Confidential
Cost/sq. ft.: Confidential
Architecture: Cuningham
Interior design: Senior Lifestyle Design
General contractor: Ryan Companies US Inc.
Engineering: AHBL Inc. (civil), Steen Engineering Inc. (mechanical/electrical/plumbing)
Project details are provided by the design team and not vetted by Environments for Aging.
