A resort mimics the dynamism of the natural motion of the desert in Todos Santos with punctuated beige-coloured concrete volumes in Mexico, designed by Mexican architects Ruben Valdez and Yashar Yektajo of Yektajo Valdez Architects. 

Named Hotel Paradero, the 12,000-square-metre hotel is located on a flat site in Todos Santos, a town on the Pacific coast of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula, surrounded by the Sierra de la Laguna mountain range.

Areal image. Image © Rafael Gamo 

The resort complex is smoothly blended with the existing landscape, while its beige-colored concrete volumes are protruding out to evoke desert that is a land of constant change. 

In this project, the architects create a distinctive form that explores and highlights the topography created by its winds, the elements that make it a gift to the senses. 

Image courtesy of Paradero Todos Santos

The team translated this natural form of creating paths and spaces that appear and disappear as in a landscape of surprises, with a concrete embodiment. 

The resort consists of 35 suites that combine outdoor and indoor in a harmonious way, while the rooms are framing this mesmerizing desert landscape. Rooms are divided into three themes: Garden Suites, Rooftop Suites and a Master Casita.

Image © Onnis Luque

Guest rooms are designed within this undulating concrete block with protruding façade in which corridors and stairwells are hidden in this volume. The front façade of these volumes also contain doors. 

Image © Onnis Luque

"Winds and seasons shape and reshape it, transforming its undulations, its reliefs, its fissures, its entire appearance with a single sweep of the wind," said POLEN Arquitectura de Paisaje and Yektajo Valdez Arquitectos.

"In order to emphasize its motion, we worked on a design inspired by these winds." 

Image © Onnis Luque

"We worked without hard lines, imagining each and every contour of its topography as if shaped by desert gusts rather than pen on paper," the architects added.

"But it’s not only the winds that sculpt the desert’s appearance - water and rain, though infrequent, are the magic spell that can change the flora’s colour, its smell, its texture in a matter of an instant". 

Image © Onnis Luque

To assure that the architects could highlight this fantastical occurrence, they used more than 20,000 plants that are endemic to the area so that these blossoms happened naturally without the need for extra water or human intervention. 

The architects said that "In this way, the guests of the hotel would be able to experience the desert in its most real form, and in the practical, the project can keep its magic with the least amount of maintenance." 

Image © Onnis Luque

Keeping with the idea of water and senses, the architects 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, they made the paths with the softest sands of the area to encourage visitors to stride the hotel barefoot.

The Living Room at the heart of the property. Image courtesy of Paradero Todos Santos

At the heart of the property, there is a multi-purpose hub, called the Living Room, providing space for gathering while its roof acts as a double yoga deck. Along its perimeter, guests are welcomed with a 130-foot-long (40-metre) infinity pool, a hot tub, and half-moon lounge deck.This half-moon lounge deck is specifically designed for guests to view the natural landscape. 

Image © Onnis Luque

"The desert has a special way of revealing itself bit by bit to those who explore it. Though vast and expanse, it’s conformed of seemingly infinite and unique spaces, each with its own combination of the colours, textures and sizes defined by its plants and their ages," added the architects. 

To recreate this resort, the architects traced its paths in a way that when walked through, the guests felt the opening and closing of a variety of spots, rather than one grandiose revelation.

Image © Onnis Luque

Due to the strong form of the resort, the visitors would also have the opportunity to get the experience of exploring the desert when walking through the hotel. 

To achieve this and still maintain the comforts not always granted by a desert, we grew endemic species in a special greenhouse for over a year and planted those young plants next to many older ones that were already in the area. 

"This gave us the opportunity to combine different species of varying heights to simulate the natural growth in the desert, yet leave enough space for guests to move around freely," the team added. 

Image © Onnis Luque

To create this resort, the architects take inspiration from their many trips to the Baja California desert. By walking the ancient paths, feeling its textures and savouring its every bit of magic, they used the plethora of information that is shared with them, to plant in every detail.

Image courtesy of Paradero Todos Santos

The interiors of the rooms are designed with well-crafted details harmonized with modern furniture and warm-toned textures and materials. The earthy-toned color palette is inspired by the site's surrounding sand and mountain range.

The interiors are designed by B Huber, a Guadalajara-based studio whose works focus on hospitality projects. The ecologically-inspired interiors flow like a sanctuary space taking cues from Mexican references. Many of the pieces were made of Mexican artisans. 

Image © Yoshihiro Koitani

Inside, the architects used custom-made or locally sourced furnishings from Guadalajara and Oaxaca.

The landscape design of the poject was completed by Polen, a Mexican landscape studio. 

Image © Onnis Luque

Image © Onnis Luque

Image © Onnis Luque

Image © Onnis Luque

Image © Onnis Luque

Image © Onnis Luque

Image © Onnis Luque

Image © Onnis Luque

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Project facts

Project name: Hotel Paradero

Architects: Ruben Valdez and Yektajo Valdez Architects.

Interior design: B Huber

Landscape design: Polen

Location: Todos Santos, Mexico 

Size: 12,000m2 

Date: 2021

Top image © Yoshihiro Koitani

All drawings © Ruben Valdez and Yektajo Valdez Architects.

> via Ruben Valdez and Yektajo Valdez Architects