_{Image courtesy of NOA}

TRIBAL, DETACHABLE HOTEL by NOA
MAYAN RIVIERA. TULUM. MEXICO 2008

The client, who has three hotels in the area, established for Tribal some important challenges. On the one hand, a hotel absolutely sustainable and responsible with the surrounding environment; on the other hand it should be possible to dismantle the hotel in no more than six hours. Detach the hotel and move it in a short period of time can avoid being hit by a hurricane, also allows the hotel to relocate in another area as it did the Mayas, respecting the environment (they cut the rain-forest once, and when the rain-forest claimed its place growing over the crops, the old Mayans would move to a new place to start over again). 

_{Image courtesy of NOA}

Through the study of the programme, and especially the need to avoid mechanical air conditioning and yet maintain optimum conditions of interior comfort is that the proposal is developed. The shape, then, is not the pursue of an arbitrary or reference shape. The project has tried to avoid any pintoresque character. Thus, objective information about the needs was put together with an arbitrary or ludic concept: “Architecture as an Event”. Thanks to this it is possible to work the relation between uses and architecture, time of the day, situations, etc; generating an architecture that allows the interaction among the guest and their natural and artificial habitat, blurring this difference. This way each moment lived by a guest it will have, associated, a specific configuration of Tribal itself.

_{Image courtesy of NOA}

“… upon arrival, while walking through a meandering path between the beach and the rain-forest, watchs their room “open” to shelter them…
… at night, they can fold the sail, to see from the interior of the room the vast sky…
… to sleep, they will unfold the sail, or if preferred they will close the roof to warm the interior…
… when sailing or diving, they can watch from the distance how the restaurant begins to open to call for lunch…”

In order to accomplish the requirement of a fast detachable system and its repetitive character, a construction with yacht industry techniques is proposed. The composites are rethought in a sustainable manner researching in the possibilities of new materials. Tribal propose a high-tech, soft-touch project, addressing the reconciliation among modernity, nature and tradition.

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