Hotel Casa Natalia

A boutique hotel located in the main plaza of the historic center of San José del Cabo, with 18 rooms and a restaurant and bar on a long, narrow lot (80 meters long with a 10-meter frontage). The owners, who are from Luxemburg, initially had a different project designed by architects from that country. They discarded it as soon as they became acquainted with the work of AAA and opted for the project designed by Jacinto Avalos, which preserves the historical context and the estuary. The owners’ instructions included keeping the existing house (of no architectural value, located at the entrance to the property), building a palm roofed hut, and having water all along the length of the complex. The AAA incorporated elements that are characteristic of its architectural language: Great surfaces of massive walls to hide the view of neighboring structures, especially the blue wall separating it from the adjacent property (this part of the design was originally received with apprehension by the owners); patios with staggered gardens and paving to give the entire hotel an inner life and purpose; a longitudinal fountain with gargoyle-type cascades along the entire property and a swimming pool and kids pool; torch lamps for creating night ambience with the movement of shadows resembling waves on the walls; a natural ceiling for the restaurant and walkways based on foliage from the palm trees that were brought in especially to convey the impression that the hotel is part of the estuary; outdoor floors designed with rich textures of brick, masonry, and pebbles and indoor floors of white and grey hydraulic tiles custom-made for the hotel and placed in quincunx pattern as in old, traditional houses; wooden pergolas forming frameworks of shadows and light; comfortable and extremely private rooms all decorated differently, with private terraces facing the hotel courtyards; walls made of bricks rescued from the original structure; all the installations required for the operation of the restaurant, laundry room, employees, guests and administration; and an exclusive, comfortable apartment for the owners. Its central space is a sequence of four staggered patios, with a great blue wall that runs along the limits of the property and five cascading mirrors of water.