The first time I visited this property and took in the desert and the diaphanous, clear water running along a horizontal line in the background, I felt the enormous drive of water under a scorching sun. This piece of land, located in the middle of a coastline dotted with “All Inclusives,” would have to be transformed into a box that contained its own sea–practically its own air–given the happy circumstance that the universe had created a desert joined to the sea along a horizontal line. It was the purest, most minimalist landscape a horizon could have drawn. On either side, this dreamlike scenerycollided with what humans consider to be aesthetic and build and baptize as architecture.I wanted to draw my own version, apart from the rest.

I believe that the greatest virtue of architecture is the generation of sensations through space on a series of planes that are found within the realm of sensitivity.I believe this capacity becomes still greater when your surroundings allow you to meld into them,formingthus part of your own space; in this sense, I wanted to take that horizon and bring it into the foreground. The water is an event that borders the entire project; all of the volumes open up toward the sea and turn their backs on the city, which is all that remains of the original surroundings, burdened by noise. Mar Adentro is a kind of Medina that opens out onto the sea. Each floating volume contains interiors that form, in turn, independent universes. Each room visually contains a piece of the sea; no one can resist gazing out at it.

For a long time, I have felt that construction has failed to evolve on a par with other endeavors: the automobile, for example, in a hundred years went from being a wagon to what we know today. And yet when I look back at the Pavilion byMies Van Der Roe, it is in essence very similarto what we see today in architecture, albeit transgressed a bitperhaps through involution. We see unnecessarily complicated, but relatively non-complex structures scattered around the world. There aresome risky proposals that form part of the current panorama we refer to as modern or contemporary, but they have not been very evolutionary.

Each room was built in a factory. Poliform was our ally. We built the entire interior structure and sent it in boxes across the sea to its destination, where it was assembled on site by local hands. In a question of days the first room was ready,of a quality subject to the tyranny of a machine and the wisdom of hands dedicated over the course of a lifetime to construction.There was no room for improvisation, and yet the room wasfashioned with intelligence, imagination, and dedication. I learned from those German and Italian manufacturers what wesometimes fail to intuit from schools or books over the course of many years.

Our project can be constructed entirely through this process, employing a module whose versatility allows it to be divided or added onto, thusbecoming autonomous or dependent on anotherstructure. Our main module, for example, is a kind of loft divided in half in order to create two rooms, as simple as that. In summary, the module is a two-, three-, or four-bedroom apartment;a house can be formed by adding on two or four more modules. The important thing is the versatility of this structure, one that can be entirely factory-made thenraised on site in a friendly manner.                 

Monolithic forms and structural rationalism dance upon a very minimal and evocative horizon

A box in the desert that cultivates in its lines a feeling of isolation, of detachment from reality, the dreamlike atmosphere of a visual paradise. Mar Adentro Cabos is a project by the architect Miguel Angel Aragonés, who created a panorama of broken volumes, free and rigid, that seems to open to the outdoors and become a part of it, or to let it in to invade indoor spaces.

Exteta’s philosophy perfectly matches Miguel Angel Aragonés’s vision: a space where the outdoors and the outside environment are not relegated to a secondary dimension, but become part of the architecture itself.

"I learned from those Italian artisans that which we sometimes cannot intuit from schools or from books after many years of study" Miguel Angel Aragonés

The pieces made by Exteta for the Mar Adentro Cabos project are unique elements, the materialization of the brand’s heightened capacity for customization and Made in Italy craftsmanship. Exteta reshapes the landscape and assembles it in a perfect fit with the architecture of Aragonés, in a project that brings the outdoor experience to the apparent edges of the world.

A luxury Cabo resort gives guests complete control. What can you say about a place that takes your breath away? If words cannot accurately capture the beauty and tranquility of a property, how can you describe it? Ask anyone who has been to the Hotel Mar Adentro, located in San Jose del Cabo, and you will likely receive a series of deep sighs, fond faraway gazes, and wordless smiles. What kind of place leaves people so speechless? The Mar Adentro is an otherworldly and enchanted luxury resort on the outer rim of Baja California, at the very southern tip of the peninsula. It’s a coastal serenade of the senses, from the vivacious visuals (modern, sleek, mesmerizing) to the soothing sounds (painstakingly picked playlists). It’s a shoo-in for any “Must-visit Resort” bucket list. And, from its very inception, this heavenly hotel has been as smart as it is serene. The property is the realized vision of renowned Mexican architect Miguel Angel Aragonés, who has a long resume of visually striking

creations. And, in every one of his future-forward homes and apartment buildings, automation has played a major role. “He’s always been very in touch with home automation,” notes Albert Mizrahi, Control4’s chief distributor in Mexico. A true visionary, Miguel would often “road test” his properties first, living in a newly constructed home himself for a year or two, using the automation system, tweaking the relationship between technology and living space, until everything worked in satisfying harmony. Then, he’d sell that house, buy a new lot, and build his next design—an immersive process he’s successfully modeled many times. “He’s been involved in automation since forever,” Albert says. And then, Miguel discovered his dream property: an empty lot in Cabo, right on the water’s edge. Inspiration took hold, and Miguel went big. He designed a hypermodern space in which every structure seems to float on water. Lorena Shelley, Real Estate Sales Manager for the property, describes Miguel’s vision: “He wanted to bring the sea into the hotel, into every area. So he started working on this crazy but beautiful idea of floating boxes.”

The bold architecture flies in the future-forward homes and apartment buildings, automation has played a major role. “He’s always been very in touch with home automation,” notes Albert Mizrahi, Control4’s chief distributor in Mexico. A true visionary, Miguel would often “road test” his properties first, living in a newly constructed home himself for a year or two, using the automation system, tweaking the relationship between technology and living space, until everything worked in satisfying harmony. Then, he’d sell that house, buy a new lot, and build his next design—an immersive process he’s successfully modeled many times. “He’s been involved in automation since forever,” Albert says. And then, Miguel discovered his dream property: an empty lot in Cabo, right on the water’s edge. Inspiration took hold, and Miguel went big. He designed a hypermodern space in which every structure seems to float on water. Lorena Shelley, Real Estate Sales Manager for the property, describes Miguel’s vision: “He wanted to bring the sea into the hotel, into every area. So he started working on this crazy but beautiful idea of floating boxes.” The bold architecture flies in the face of the traditional regional style of stucco and adobe, and instead features large, sleek, minimal geometry. Lorena notes that Miguel ignored even current fashion trends in Cabo by going so modern. “This is a very particular project. It’s unique in its whole perspective of what Cabo is,” she says. “You’re never going to find another hotel like this in Cabo. There’s magic in this project.” Parts of the property feel like other planets, like the indoor-outdoor restaurant that looks like a bird’s nest on Mars. It’s a stunning site, and, like Miguel’s previous projects, it’s also entirely automated. A seasoned user of automation, Miguel chose Control4 to drive the property’s system. Once again, Control4’s versatility, price, and ease of use made it the winning option. “What Control4 could offer us was amazing,” Lorena says. Miguel incorporated automation in his earliest designs for the property, and that pre-planning has paid off. “We’ve been involved from the beginning,” Albert says. “It’s not like he designed the rooms and then we came in. Instead, he designed the rooms considering our technology, so everything fits perfectly.”

“This is a very large project,” Albert notes. There are multiple towers on the property, two of which are hotel rooms; the rest feature apartments for sale. There are also 22 villas, individual high-end units that sell for 3-8 million dollars a pop. Two of the villas are built right on the sand, “so you can open your window, and you’re on the beach,” Albert notes. All of these spaces (both hotel and residential) are loaded with automation—in each unit, lights, AV, home theaters, thermostats, and blinds can all be controlled via Control4. The hotel just celebrated its grand opening in November 2016. Currently 157 rooms are available. Each room is a private piece of paradise: sleek white design, huge windows with ocean views, and private sun decks complete with sun bed and outdoor bathtubs. The rooms include “bathtub service,” in which you simply request a bath is prepared for you at almost any hour. “The rooms The are spectacular,” Lorena says. “You feel like you are somewhere special, and you also don’t feel like you are anywhere in the world.” The rooms are built for top-notch comfort, and that includes guests relaxing with and without technology. “When you travel,” Lorena notes, “you want a beautiful place, a beautiful room, but you want access to all the technology we have today. When we think of resting, we think of just grabbing a tablet and doing everything with it.” Here at Hotel Mar Adentro, guests can do just that—grab a customized tablet in their room and control their environment just how they’d like: ignite music in the shower, lower the curtains, turn the TV on, or turn the lights down. (Not just ordinary lights, either—these rooms feature an LED rainbow of colors, so you can choose your hue, based on your mood.) And, to create even more customized comfort, the hotel staff will change the languages on labels, so if a guest from China will be staying, the staff can put Chinese in place of Spanish.

Automation extends to the property’s public spaces, too. In the 21-person professional cinema, Control4 lowers the lights when the movie starts and brings the lights back up at the movie’s end. Lights come to life on the pathways leading to the cinema room. The soothing music, which drifts through all the common spaces, is also automated on the system. The playlists are carefully chosen and are customized for morning, afternoon, and evening. Control4 automatically plays the proper playlists throughout the days and nights, and a soundscape it is. The lobbies, restaurants, bars, spa, gym, and children’s center are all incorporated into the system. In fact, the only area that isn’t on the system is the beach and the ocean—that area, naturally, remains pleasantly gadget-free. Thus far, feedback from guests on the automation system has been overwhelmingly positive. “They give great reviews,” Lorena notes, “And that is, in part, because of the technology.” Albert agrees: “Guests really like it. The system works really well.” Apparently, other hotel owners are also taking notice and want similar systems in their properties. “This is like a giant showroom,” Albert says, smiling. The hotel staff loves the system, too. “It has been really easy for our staff members to learn the system,” Lorena says. Part of the check-in process includes staff showing guests how to control their room with the tablet. And, because the guests take control of their environment, “the staff is now focused on the pampering of guests instead of the details,” Lorena says. “Control4 takes care of everything for us.” And since mere words and pictures just won’t do this place justice, and because you now know the hotel is beautiful, modern, and loaded with automation, there’s really nothing more to say, except for this: Get on the next plane out and go to Cabo!