The beach hotel usually comports itself in serene and brilliant white curves, borrowing the sleekness of the ocean liner, but the surfing resort of Curanipe in central Chile is a place for less sedentary approaches to the water. In response, WMR Arquitectos have not opted to emulate the quaint traditional buildings of the town, either; their only nod to the vernacular is their use of wood, with eucalyptus and pine filling the black steel frame of their building. This takes the form of three long, cuboid and rather Miesian volumes, stacked on top of one another on stilts to avoid inundation – a major earthquake struck the area in 2010, followed by a tsunami. The hotel’s circulation spaces are, thanks to its porous cladding, open to the elements, while the central courtyard is protected from the wind.
Punta sirena sections
