Curio

About the project

Curio

Interior design for the renovation of the lobby, reception, restaurant and outdoor pool of a hotel in Mérida, Yucatán (2022), with Esquiliano ARQS as co-architects. The contemporary interior contrasts with the French-style façades and uses regional materials such as henequen, tzalam wood and traditional cement tiles; a chaká tree stands at the center of the pool.

The lobby/no-lobby concept was intended to juxtapose the French-influenced architecture of the façades with a contemporary, elegant and contrasting interior design, through a clearly modern formal response that also uses regional materials such as henequen, Tzalam wood and cement-tile rugs, keeping us true to our roots. The main goal of this space is to evoke sensations in visitors through the interplay of volumes, light and shadow.

The central space, formed by the pool and its sun deck, references the colonial style of hacienda architecture in Yucatán.

The masonry wall that serves as a visual focal point is a reinterpretation of the construction system used in colonial-era buildings, with walls of coursed or rubble-core stone masonry. This element “carries” the hotel’s façade, whose French-influenced style emerged during the Porfiriato, the period that followed the colonial era.

At the center of the pool stands a Chaká tree, representing Maya culture as the center of everything and implying that nature is the first to inhabit the space. The blue of the façade, together with the water, gives continuity to the space until it merges with the blue of the sky as the heart of the project.