Articles by Clara Ott

The hotel is located on a small property in front of a main road to the beach of Guiones, a small but popular surf destiny.  The owners wanted to create a space to gather young surfer travelers, where guests would seat together, share their experiences and enjoy of each others company,  but would  offer enough privacy in the bedrooms. It needed to combine sleeping options for different budgets. The project would need to feel welcoming and familiar, but once you are inside, you’d have privacy and distance from what happens on the road. 

The extraordinary natural surroundings of the peninsula of Baja California with its semi-desert landscape in shades of ocher, contrasting with the deep blue of the Sea of Cortes, provides an ideal selected context for the construction of a new landmark hotel for the country.

The Camino de Santiago runs through the valley and village of Ezcaray, an enclave that has a great natural heritage and one of the most interesting sets of popular architecture in La Rioja. Inevitably his “genius loci” is the key of the process of this project.

Santulan is balance in hindi, which was the concept used for the development of the project that seeks to be inclusive, not only being a tourist destination, but also being an example of a permanent culture of respect and balance with the ecosystem from its inhabitant to the building.

To convert the conditions of the plot into opportunities was the premise for designing the Zapotes project. The plot is located close to the town La Venta del Astillero in an environment harmonized with oaks, pine trees, among others, and with a peculiar terrain of ravines and hills, which as if almost intentionally protects the building from sunlight.

The Roman Villa of El Vergel is located on the outskirts of the town of San Pedro del Arroyo, Ávila. It is a set of large dimensions, excavated only partially, which houses several mosaics of great value. The town is partially buried under the parish church of San Pedro Apóstol and the cemetery, which complicates its recovery and enhancement.

House AO is based within a context where landscape is one of the core conditioning factors for its design. The client requested that the main spaces take part of the best views; the architectonic response was to propose spatiality where the user, the architecture, and the setting would dialogue.

The Kálida Centre is a space of emotional, social and practical support for cancer patients and people around them. It is a home opened to everyone, where qualified professionals offer their help. A house to meet other people, a house where to find a quiet retreat or to have a cup of tea.

Casa Sierra Fría is a house located in Lomas de Chapultepec, in Mexico City. Since most of the plots in this residential area had regular constructions on three of its four sides, the architectural concept of the project decided to explore the idea of a vacuum within an open structural grid. Where each quadrant has a different program, establishing a connection with the patio that surrounds it.