in mexico, 'hotel paradero' honors the desert that was sculpted by the wind

architecture informed by wind-shaped topography

in the pacific mexican town of todos santos, the brutalist-inspired hotel paradero honors the natural motion its desert context. designed by POLEN arquitectura de paisaje and yektajo valdez arquitectos, the project explores and highlights the topography and pathways naturally shaped by the wind.

the team comments on this natural influence: ‘the desert is a land of constant change. winds and seasons shape and reshape it, transforming its undulations, its reliefs, its fissures, its entire appearance with a single sweep of the wind.

‘in order to emphasize its motion, we worked on a design inspired by these winds. we worked without hard lines, imagining each and every contour of its topography as if shaped by desert gusts rather than pen on paper.’

images © onnis luque | @onnisluque_fotografia

hotel paradero, surrounded by BLOOMING flora of mexico

with its hotel paradero (see more here) in mexico, the design team celebrates the infrequent waters and rain which can transform the desert landscape. these rare occurrences have a magical effect on the plantlife, changing its color, smell, and texture in an instant. hoping to highlight this fantastical event, the team integrated only endemic plant life which blossom naturally without human intervention. with this landscape strategy, the desert is experienced in its truest form and with the least amount of maintenance.

the team at POLEN arquitectura de paisaje (see more here) and yektajo valdez arquitectos (see more here) continues: ‘keeping with the idea of water and senses, we maintained and directed a stream of water that runs through the property to give the guests an auditory pleasure and that culminates in a fantastic spring,

‘which transports us to a natural oasis, which refers to what happens in the place naturally, this magnificent contrast of environments that reaches all the senses and to finish the full experience, we made the paths with the softest sands of the area to encourage visitors to stride the hotel barefoot.’

a sense of gradual exploration

as the architects of mexico’s hotel paradero note, ‘the desert has a special way of revealing itself bit by bit to those who explore it.’ the project seeks to recreate this experience, tracing the natural pathway so that when walked through, visitors feel the opening and closing of a variety of spots, rather than a single, stunning discovery. this way the visitors keep a sense of exploration. to achieve this and still maintain the comforts not always granted by a desert, the endemic flora is grown in a greenhouse for over a year and then planted beside those much older that were already in the area, simulating the natural growth in the desert while allowing visitors to move freely.