BIG, ICON and Texas-based hotelier Liz Lambert have joined forces to reimagine the infamous nomadic campground hotel El Cosmico in Marfa, Texas. The new 62-acre community will feature large-scale 3D-printed structures including domes, arches, vaults and parabolic forms, enhancing the guest experience with a pool, spa, and shared communal facilities. Breaking ground in 2024, El Cosmico will continue to celebrate the convergence of creative culture and the minimalistic natural environment of the Marfa landscape.
“Our collaboration with El Cosmico and ICON has allowed us to pursue the formal and material possibilities of cutting-edge 3D printed construction untethered by the traditional limitations of a conventional site or client. Liz Lambert’s legacy for reimagining hospitality and her pioneering of a contemporary Texan aesthetic combined with the Minimalistic nature and culture, art and landscape of Marfa has been the perfect fit to pursue a new architectural vernacular language for El Cosmico in Marfa. Organic shapes, Euclidian circular geometries and a color palette born from the local terroir makes El Cosmico feel as if literally erected from the site it stands on.” – Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Creative Director, BIG
As an outpost of El Cosmico, a permanent pavilion for music and performances emerges from the natural slope of the Long Centre’s front lawn in Austin, Texas.
The adobe like color and texture of the horizontally layered wall appears like geological strata in an exposed cliff. Inspired by the Uruguayan engineer and architect Eladio Dieste, the sinuous curves at the foot of the pavilion provide both structural stability and social niches for the audience and performers. Organic form as structural function.
Team:
Architects: BIG - Bjarkle Ingles Group
Contractors: ICON
Hotelier: Liz Lambert
