Comfort and Seclusion: 5 Hotels in the Deserts of Latin America

The desert is a panorama in fixed transformation. Formed by the wind, its dunes, ridges, and fissures emerge and fade in an ever-shifting expanse, as if the surroundings itself have been alive. It’s a land of stark contrasts, the place the scorching warmth of the day provides solution to the crisp coolness of the evening, revealing nature in its most primal type. In such a dynamic and untamed environment, how can structure not solely integrate but additionally respect and engage with its surroundings? That is the problem confronted by accommodations constructed inside Latin America’s huge desert landscapes.

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Outlined by their excessive aridity and minimal rainfall, deserts are sometimes seen as harsh and inhospitable. Whereas they’re mostly related to Africa and Asia, they exist on each continent, every with distinctive traits. In Latin America, two of essentially the most putting examples are the Atacama Desert and the Sonoran Desert. Spanning over 100,000 km², the Atacama stretches throughout Chile and elements of Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru and is acknowledged because the driest desert on this planet. The Sonoran Desert, masking round 222,000 km², extends from the southwestern United States into northwestern Mexico, its panorama outlined by dramatic rock formations and towering cacti.

Regardless of their excessive situations, deserts have lengthy been residence to civilizations which have tailored with ingenuity and resilience. The Indigenous Atacameños, for instance, construct their properties from adobe, a cloth that stabilizes indoor temperatures regardless of the desert’s dramatic thermal shifts. Equally, the Tuareg nomads of the Sahara use light-weight fabric and animal-hide tents that present each shade and air flow. Throughout cultures, desert structure is formed by necessity, using native supplies and clever design to make sure consolation and survival in some of the demanding environments on Earth.

In the present day, the fascination with desert landscapes continues to develop, fueling an increase in tourism. In areas just like the United Arab Emirates, luxurious desert resorts echo the aesthetic of traditional nomadic camps whereas providing state-of-the-art expertise and lavish interiors. In distinction, Latin America’s desert accommodations embrace a extra understated strategy. Quite than bold, extravagant designs, they deal with delicate integration with the panorama, utilizing earthy tones and supplies like adobe to create a way of concord with their environment. By way of cautious consideration to scale and proportion, these areas foster a deeper reference to the desert, providing a refined but immersive expertise of its vastness.

Proceed studying to find 5 outstanding accommodations and lodges set inside the deserts of Latin America.

Paradero Hotel / Yashar Yektajo + Rubén Valdez

Todos Santos, Mexico

Paradero Lodge seeks to seize the dynamic essence of the desert, translating its pure motion right into a fluid and immersive architectural design. Free from inflexible strains or imposing buildings, its types seem sculpted by the wind itself, making a seamless concord with the panorama. Natural volumes mix with the winding paths that weave via the property, framed by native vegetation and the comfortable expanse of desert sand.

Hotel Explora en Atacama / Germán del Sol

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

Lodge Explora is centered round an elevated plaza, providing each privateness and breathtaking views. Its widespread areas, positioned 4 meters above the bottom, present an uninterrupted panorama of the huge Atacama panorama. The design preserves the essence of native structure, emphasizing strong partitions, light-weight roofs, small openings, and luminous shadows—capturing the spirit of a tradition that thrives on simplicity and ingenuity.

Hornitos Hotel / Gonzalo Mardones Viviani

Antofagasta, Chile

The first objective of Hornitos Lodge was to intervene as minimally as potential. To realize this, the architectural design follows a semi-buried, predominantly horizontal structure. A bigger quantity homes the primary resort, whereas smaller cabin-like buildings are scattered throughout the terrain, mixing seamlessly into the huge desert panorama. All buildings are fabricated from uncovered strengthened concrete, pigmented in desert tones to reinforce their pure integration with the environment.

Hotel Tierra Atacama / Matias Gonzalez + Rodrigo Searle

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

The Tierra Atacama Lodge was constructed utilizing a light-weight building system, minimizing using supplies similar to aggregates, cement, and water. To handle the challenges of constructing in a distant space, it incorporates stone and adobe partitions, mixing custom with sustainability. Its structure subtly frames the huge desert panorama, with pathways resulting in open and enclosed courtyards, thoughtfully exploring the connection between scale and time inside the desert’s immensity.

Bed & Breakfast Santulan / Santos Bolívar

Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico

Composed of interconnected volumes linked by walkways that interact instantly with nature, Santulan invitations company to expertise each non secular and architectural concord. The venture embraces eco-friendly building methods, that includes BTC (compressed earth block) partitions, a greywater recycling system, and inexperienced roofs planted with low-maintenance native vegetation.

This text is a part of an ArchDaily curated series that focuses on constructed tasks from our personal database grouped beneath particular themes associated to cities, typologies, supplies, or packages. Each month, we’ll spotlight a set of buildings that discover a widespread thread between beforehand unusual contexts, unpacking the depths of affect on our constructed environments. As all the time, at ArchDaily, we extremely admire the enter of our readers. If you happen to suppose we should always point out particular concepts, please submit your suggestions.