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JW Marriott Los Cabos Beach Resort & Spa

JW Marriott Los Cabos Beach Resort & Spa
Benjamin Benschneider

JW Marriott Los Cabos Beach Resort & Spa

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The design of the JW Marriott Puerto Los Cabos Resort seamlessly blends architecture and art with the site’s powerful desert landscape and an endless panorama of the Pacific Ocean. Though separated from the water by a 35-foot-tall dune, the resort provides visitors with an horizon-framing view from the main arrival hall, which appears to draw the water into the resort


The grandeur of the 299-room, 561,000-square-foot resort is honed to an intimate scale starting with the entry hall where a cadence of tall columns inspired by pre-Columbian architecture draws visitors forward. In the grand gathering spaces such as the 8,000-square-foot ballroom, large steel girders are wrapped in dark wood, and soffits are incorporated throughout which lend warmth and a human scale to large spaces.


The ocean view takes center stage from nearly every vantage point as visitors explore intuitive pathways throughout the property. Just past the main entry, two infinity pools appear to connect with the water beyond; as guests move throughout the property, they are greeted with unexpected glimpses of the water, which is framed by native landscaping and sculpted sand dunes that stretch 750 feet across the front of the property.


Smooth concrete and stucco buildings throughout the complex, whose color was derived from the sand of the surrounding desert, were designed to appear native to the site. Open travertine-covered hallways and floors combined with local soil aggregates, further blur the physical boundaries of indoors and outdoors, site and architecture.


The guest rooms, library, bar and restaurant incorporate rich textures and warm desert tones that lend a soft earthy elegance to interior spaces. Specially commissioned art pieces commissioned from artists including Jaume Plensa, Jorge Yázpik, and Sam Falls are woven throughout the interior and exterior spaces of the resort, as well as individual guest rooms.


The landscape design of the resort accentuates the architecture and reinforces the site’s relationship to its natural context. The design weaves together indigenous species including the Cardon plant, a type of thorn scrub, and native Torote and Palo Blanco trees. The verticality of Royal, Date, and Mexican Fan Palms lend a sense of transition between built and natural forms, while select exotic plants provide bolder colors in the sunken gardens, such as the Gardens of Paradise.


“My main inspiration was the power of the ocean and bringing its power into every part of this hotel. When you move through the spaces, there are always moments where your eye can focus on the outdoors. The architecture is designed to frame nature.“ Jim Olson, FAIA, Design Principal


Material Used :

1. Exterior Siding – Stucco

2. Flooring, Tiling, Exterior Accents – Travertine

3. Flooring, Countertops, Accents – Granite

4. Wall and Ceiling Paneling, Accents, Screening – Various Woods

5. Room Accents – Glass Tile

6. Porte Cochere Paneling – Onyx

7. Accents – Bronze

8. Sutherland – Exterior Furniture

9. Perennials – Upholstery Fabrics

10. Valley Forge Fabrics – Upholstery Fabrics

11. Tai Ping – Rugs

12. Kohler – Room Fixtures

13. Charter – Room Furnishings

14. Brown Jordan – Exterior Room Furnishings

15. Custom Furniture Throughout Designed by Jim Olson, FAIA

16. Specially commissioned artworks from Mexican artists including Jaume Plensa and Jorge Yázpik 

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