A project that prioritizes privacy and contact with nature through exclusivity. It is a boutique hotel that provides a natural and sensual space to coexist, disconnect and let yourself be pampered in the outstanding tourist destination of the Bacalar Lagoon in the Mexican Caribbean.
In this spatial conception, the contextual morphologies of the jungle and the lagoon are combined. The resources have been used in a way that creates tension by using hard materials such as stone to create organic and fluid forms, while the organic and soft materials create hard geometric figures with strong angles.
The complex has the following distribution:
At the front: the reception area, parking lot, recreation area, security and services. At the center: the lodging area composed of 13 cabins oriented according to the open spaces, among the tree trunks, positioned equidistantly ensuring a considerable space between them. The huts are divided into cells framed by visual barriers made up of limestone walls and palisades that embrace bundles of dry grass. Finally, a restaurant with recreation areas on the shore of the lagoon. Everything is interconnected by a central pathway that generates an organically shaped path of irregular sections with a white gravel cobblestone surface reminiscent of river geometries.
The buildings have monumental proportions, but strange lightness, given by the apparently disorderly columns. They are made of round logs that screen the view into the interior and project from the ground at great heights to end in irregular points that cross thin concrete decks or palapas, on which are arranged in their vortexes layers of dry grasses that project to provide protection and shade.
The cabins are built on a light base with wooden decks -like a carpet- inviting you to come in. Some are also adorned with a mirror of water and a swimming pool; the reflections dissolving the separation between roofs and walls. The cabins are also built with wooden windows and clear glass that allow a harmonious view between the garden and the bed. Upon entering, the lighting is indirect and warm, the surfaces are composed of grass, wood or stucco; and the floor is polished concrete. Low furniture that virtually divides the room, and at the back, blunt walls contain the toilets.
In the background are the common buildings, where the space is open and illuminated with woven macramé lamps, imitating cotton clouds swaying in the wind. At the center of the floor, a wooden square embedded in the polished concrete surface sets the tone for radial mandalic lines that extend to the edges, concentrating the space, giving it scale and separating the exterior from the interior.
The restaurant is nestled into the slope, freeing the view of the cabins behind. It is differentiated by an iconic soffit made of untidy logs and dry grass surfaces, which give it a primitive appearance without abandoning the showiness of the craftsmanship. It opens onto the shore of the lagoon, where a series of elevated decks are projected over the steep slope and interconnected with bridges that descend to the water: spaces that give the sensation of being among the treetops with an unparalleled view of the lagoon of Bacalar.
The main peculiarity of this project is the socially and ecologically sustainable way in which it has been built. The infrastructures are designed to be non-polluting, the work teams are coordinated as a cooperative, the materials used were almost exclusively local, and all the interior design, furniture and even lighting fixtures are handmade on site by workers with traditional local construction knowledge, used in an original way for this project.
Everything is created with the dignity of the traditional craft of environmentally friendly construction in mind, which seeks in its durability and character the impact of high design; highly artisanal work that adorns with majesty, excellent quality, workmanship that prioritizes the beauty of authenticity over canonical aesthetics, which provides a unique warmth to the space and an essence that can be felt in the air, as every corner of the building merges with nature.
Additional credits
Architecture, interior design, furniture and lighting: AM Arquitectura + Grupo Glampers @arias.mtz.arq
Original idea and pre-project: Glampers SAPI de CV + Taller de arquitectura viva
Design team: M. Arch. Alfonso Arias Mtz. Arch. Mauricio Odriozola. Arch. Luis Muñoz. Arch. Diego Sotelo.
Executive design and construction: M. Arch. Alfonso Arias Mtz, Fredy Aban
Landscaping: M. Arch. Alfonso Arias Mtz
