It’s no accident that many of the words we use to describe home—retreat, refuge, haven, sanctuary—carry spiritual connotations. Whether you seek heaven, nirvana, harmonic convergence, or bliss, your goal promises lasting peace in a special place or state of being.

Most of us look to our homes, where we define and design our personal serenity, to escape the rigors of the modern world. Architect J. W. Barton has formalized his belief in home as “sacred space” by applying a set of principles to the design of his residence in Ojo Caliente, New Mexico, a village north of Santa Fe known for its healing hot springs. Barton calls his home Casa Mirasol, “sunflower house.”

Born in New Mexico, Barton earned his undergraduate degree at UC–Santa Barbara and a master’s in architecture from UCLA. He later completed a master’s degree in religion at Yale Divinity School. The architect found inspiration in 20th-century philosopher Mircea Eliade’s discussion of sacred space in The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion.

Barton’s interest in sacred space grew while working for 12 years as the architect-in-residence at the Episcopal cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. Over the past 20 years, Barton has designed and helped restore several other sacred spaces, including Albuquerque’s Episcopal Church of St. Michael and All Angels with friend and fellow architect Robert Habiger.

 

 

 

Casa Mirasol is actually a gathering of four structures on 24 acres. Together, they represent 4,000 square feet of living, office, and studio space—and an as-yet-unchristened sweat lodge. Barton’s design draws freely from Native American reverence for nature, Christianity as expressed in Gothic cathedrals, and the Asian practice of feng shui, the ancient art of harmonious placement.

In the hands of a lesser architect, this sacred eclecticism might have resulted in an unholy mess. But under Barton’s discerning eye Casa Mirasol has emerged an inspired whole. “All spiritual traditions have their own ways of defining sacred spaces,” says the architect. “They’re not incompatible.”

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