B"O Hotel / Muro Rojo Arquitectura

Curated by ArchDaily

Architects: Muro Rojo Arquitectura
Year: 2012
Photographs:Jaime Navarro
Manufacturers: Verolegno

Text description provided by the architects. B¨O suggests a new and fresh look at San Cristobal de las Casas. It is a proposal with its own identity, a review of what hospitality should be, in which the design molds spaces integrating the concept of a house and a hotel in the same gesture within the same experience. So, B¨O is a place where the premises that have guided the work of Muro Rojo are inscribed. How does life fit in spaces and how does design transform our perception?

The design of B¨O invites us to look back to a Mexico that is rooted in the land, in the traditions of a mestizo culture that proposes a new world. It is a hotel that shelters us from its roots and invites us to contemplate a landscape surrounded by mountains where life seems to emerge from the rain to get lost in the fog.

This is a site that seeks to renew in its spaces, textures and circulations the traditions and multiple senses that this city reveals to us gradually. From its name, which in the Tzotzil language means water, the experience of this hotel arises from the four elements, as in the traditional songs of Chiapas, where earth is the body, wind is the steam, water is blood and fire is the spirit. And all to create a promenade, a space that welcomes us. B¨O is a hotel to see the rain.

Thus, the architectural proposal is rooted in its culture and relationship with the environment. This correspondence is shown in the dialogue promoted by the building itself between inside and outside, as it includes in its scheme the plan of the traditional Andalusian patio, and the warmth of wood in vernacular architecture, the poetics of its roofs, and the color and texture of the earth on the walls. They are endless spaces, which are transformed during the day and seasons. They are planes that open and close to recreate the space and the way we perceive day and night, rain and sun, the transition from spring to winter.

This hotel arises from the effort to show the design elements that compose it as generators of a warm and friendly atmosphere, and also as containers of stories, such as the use of textiles, since in Chiapas life falls within the threads, knots, frets, textures and colors.

It has 14 standard rooms, 6 junior suites with private garden and pool included, 1 master suite with freestanding tub, terrace and private garden and 1 presidential suite with freestanding tub and roof garden with pool included. Library Area, Lobby Bar, Fitness Center, Event Room, Spa Service and over 1000 m2 of gardens. The specialty restaurant called LUM meaning earth in Tzotzil has been recognized for its excellent culinary proposal.

Thus, B¨O proposes a new experience in San Cristobal de las Casas, a unique way of being received, sheltered and surprised by an unexpected design, derived from the desire to Carlos and Fernando Gutiérrez to show their view and passion for their land. To do so they invite Muro Rojo to recreate their own story in Chiapas.