NICO Sayulita

Luis Díaz Díaz

• Architects

Immersed in the jungle coast of Sayulita-a bohemian surf town an hour north of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico-is NICO, a boutique hotel created by Seattle-based architecture firm and developer HYBRID in collaboration with Mexico City-based Palma Architecture.

The building reads as a two-level structure from the street; after crossing a bridge over the main pool, the user discovers the rest of the program by literally descending into the jungle.

photo_credit Luis Díaz Díaz — Luis Díaz Díaz

Indoor and outdoor spaces combine throughout the building in a concrete grid structure, exploring thresholds and taking full advantage of the local climate with a fully open level that welcomes the breeze and allows for a sense of total immersion in nature.

Once inside, visitors discover private and social areas with unexpected and exciting framed views through which the ocean and surroundings are glimpsed. Views ranging from the airy and open of the upper terrace, through the middle levels surrounded by lush canopy trees and descending to a much more earthy level in the “jungle suite,” a room surrounded by native foliage.

NICO's five suites were conceived as tranquil spaces that offer the possibility of embracing the outdoors with floor-to-ceiling windows and particular spatial details such as private terraces, as well as custom-designed furnishings. The main social level is accompanied by a turquoise hand-tiled pool surrounded by greenery. There is also a rooftop level with a plunge pool offering spectacular views of the bay, sea and open sky framed with concrete beams reminiscent of tropical modernism.

The lattice structure not only allows for an efficient structural system - consistent with local building customs - but also allows for possible programmatic mutation if necessary.