Hotel Malinalco
Project Status: Completed
Project Year: 2022
Use: Hospitality
Client: Private
Location: State of Mexico
Design: MCxA
Context
The project is located a few kilometers from the center of Malinalco, a pueblo mágico in the State of Mexico known for its pre-Hispanic archaeological site, colonial architecture, and mountainous natural setting. The site's relative isolation from the town center provides sufficient separation for guests to genuinely connect with nature—experiencing the sky, forest, and water without the intrusions of nearby neighbors, visible infrastructure, or ambient noise from populated areas. This remoteness creates conditions for the serene and tranquil environment essential to the retreat concept, where distance from urban stimulation becomes a primary amenity rather than an inconvenience. The site features exceptional views that enhance the experience of immersion in nature, providing visual connection to the surrounding landscape that reinforces the sense of retreat and environmental engagement.
The program encompasses both private residence and commercial hospitality components, including a large house for the property owners and a series of cabins designed for guest accommodation. The cabins are deliberately spaced apart to promote privacy, acknowledging that retreat experiences depend on the ability to find solitude and separation from other guests when desired. Outdoor amenities including a firepit area, outdoor yoga space, open-air cinema, and natural pool extend the usable program beyond enclosed structures, creating diverse settings for relaxation, social gathering, physical practice, and entertainment that maintain constant connection to the outdoor environment rather than retreating into air-conditioned interiors.
Design Principles
The design aspiration centers on creating a sustainable, technologically advanced space that simultaneously reflects local culture and fosters connection with nature, balancing apparently contradictory objectives of technological sophistication and environmental authenticity. The ecological hotel concept prioritizes the natural environment as the primary attraction, positioning architecture and infrastructure as enabling frameworks that facilitate rather than compete with nature experiences. This approach requires restraint in architectural expression and careful site planning that preserves existing landscape character, minimizes environmental disturbance, and creates spaces where natural elements—sunlight, breeze, vegetation, views, sounds—become the dominant sensory experiences.
The aesthetic direction embraces minimalism, coziness, and rusticity, creating environments that feel authentically connected to nature while maintaining high standards of comfort and style appropriate for premium hospitality. Minimalism provides visual clarity and prevents architectural distraction from natural surroundings, using restraint in material palette and formal expression to focus attention outward toward landscape rather than inward toward decoration. Coziness ensures that sparse design doesn't become cold or unwelcoming, incorporating warmth through natural materials, appropriate scale, and careful detailing that creates intimate rather than institutional atmospheres. Rusticity references vernacular building traditions and natural materiality without descending into theme park artificiality, using wood, stone, and simple construction methods that feel honest and connected to place. The synthesis of these qualities creates an attractive and distinctive destination for guests seeking ecological retreats—environments offering genuine nature connection, cultural authenticity, contemporary comfort, and the restorative experiences increasingly valued by travelers seeking alternatives to conventional resort tourism.