This is a truly pleasant hotel. It really offers the possibility to rest, and disconnect by engaging with a unique ecosystem. It is a great idea for a hotel, and mostly well developed, though with some important unaddressed issues.
It is located inside a gated compound with an exclusive access to an impressive Pacific beach. As opposed to the Escondido Hotel, Terrestre does have a nice beach club, but it is mostly immersed in the ecosystem of the dunes behind the beach. That is its strength, because that back part has an impressive bird diversity and plant and butterflies life, that cannot be more enjoyable.
The hotel is designed as a series of pavilions hidden to each other by the dense vegetation, only carved by narrow curvy paths. The long and narrow swimming pool is truly beautiful and pleasant. The hamman, is fun. The restaurant is nice. Food is truly great and service is impecable.
The cabins are very beautiful. They are designed so that no air conditioning is needed, with crossing ventilation. It works, as long as it is not raining. They are designed as contemplative stations, where you watch nature, but never see your neighbors. The presence of local craft makes the spaces friendly and with some non modern depth, what is welcoming.
Architecturally, the design is a good combination of modern architecture clichés. Nothing original or new for those interested in architecture. A bit of Louis Kahn, mixed with versions of Donald Judd furniture, Barragán doors and use of water and landscaping, and direct elements from Ando's concrete...
Some clear architectural design mistakes:
1. Nothing here is accessible to alternative bodily capacities. If you need a wheel chair forget about it. The whole thing seems to be a celebration of youngmess and healthiness. To the extend that no employee looks older than 25.
2. The design is so maintenance-loaded that is hard not to feel sorry by the huge amount of people doing tough decorative work-removing leaves from the paths, placing clean water in the feet washers, removing dead insects from the multiple swimming pools, cleaning the sand from the concrete surfaces...
3. There are significant issues with rain. Water enters the cabins. Staff needs to work under the rain to draw curtains to prevent it from entering the bedrooms, leaks etc. It is kind of painful. Actually the contemplative character of the cabins vanishes when it rains and the view is literally covered by a plastic panel. All the natural eco vibe fades away when plastic takes over. No views, no light and no natural ventilation is any longer available in the rooms. It is like saying that the only nature worth watching and feeling is sunny nature. Being rain a total spectacle in a place like this.
4. No door in the toilet. This is a real issue. In a diaphanous cabin interior, you can hear whatever business happens in the toilet from the entire cabin. A real problem unless you use the cabin on your own. Surprising that this seems not to have been considered trough the design process.
Overall, being a healthy relatively young person with capacity to pay this, it is incredibly enjoyable. As an eco-innovative proposal is kind of admirable, but with obvious flaws that anchor it in the XX century, rather than being inventing the XXI. read more