In the spring of 2013 two brothers came to our office to discuss their desire to build and operate a hotel in their home country.

Situated in Calacoto, a blossoming area just outside of the main city of La Paz and at an elevation of over 3000 meters, the 740 square meter site is wedge between and existing 5 story building and a soon to be built 7 story buildings. And though the surrounding cityscape and ragged mountain terrain offered the potential for spectacular views, these adjacencies posed a compromise to that potential.

The request was for an approximately 55-guest room boutique hotel, with all the required 5 star rated needs: lounges, restaurants, spa, pool, conference center, administration, kitchen, storage, parking, and supporting infrastructure.

The solution to the difficult site was to shape the main plan into a parallelogram, and then create bay projection from the guest rooms, this would allow for occupants to have views clear of the adjacent buildings. The jagged quality of the façade also responds to the rugged terrain. 

The building is organized vertically into 3 zones: public spaces such as reception, lounge, restaurant, conference center and banquet facilities are located on the lower 3 floors with the 2 of them subterranean. The guest rooms occupying 6 floors making up the body of the structure, and the spa and bar services which top the structure under an atrium which opens up to the mountains beyond.

The eight story structure is clad in glass, timber and Native Comanche stone.

One of the challenges designing and working in a new and remote location is not only understanding location construction techniques and procedures, it’s also recognizing the limits of local resources and the knowledge and abilities to stretch beyond the regional norm.