Chablé Resort To Open New Sea Of Cortez Property Near La Paz, Mexico

Chablé Hotels & Resorts, a boutique Mexican-owned luxury hotel company, will open its third property, Chablé Sea of Cortez, in 2021. Located outside of the superyacht destination of La Paz in Baja California, Mexico, the project will be a game-changer for the area which has traditionally been void of any luxury hotel development.

The Chablé Sea of Cortez will include stunning luxury villas and residences with dead- on ocean views. The property will also feature a huge spa, three dining venues, event space, private beach, and ocean-front pool; all spread across more than 698,700 square feet.   

Chablé chose one of my favorite design firms, Sordo Madaleno Arquitecos (SMA), to develop the project. The secluded property is surrounded by desert and positioned directly along the Sea of Cortez, an area well known for whale shark diving and the spectacular Isla Espíritu Santo where yachts often are seen.

“The landscape served as a fundamental element in the development of Chablé Sea of Cortez,” said Fernando Sordo Madaleno de Haro, Lead Architect at SMA. “We wanted to echo the topography in the design, drawing inspiration from the slopes in the land and the waves in the sea.”

Chablé previously opened Chablé Yucatán, in the Mayan jungle with its stunning below ground Cenote Spa that I covered exclusively, and Chablé Maroma, on the Caribbean coast in Riviera Maya.

I spoke with the architects, and they were excited about their award-winning concrete suites all positioned along the rolling desert hillside. The designers have created a series of pods with concrete roofs built onto the property, the suites appear to be sea creatures crawling into the water.

"In Chablé Sea of Cortez, a single constructive element is expressed as a large organic roof that forms oscillations along the volumetry, being roof, wall and access road at the same time," said Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos principal Fernando Sordo Madaleno de Haro. "This is a naturalistic surface that blurs the line between landscape and architecture," the studio said. "It is architecture as landscape and landscape as architecture."

The Chablé Sea of Cortéz resort will include 50 hotel suites, beachfront amenities building, a lobby, and a restaurant all designed in a similar style.

The masterplan has the hotel rooms positioned like branches that run parallel to the hill, all built at a 23-degree angle to provide the best views. Native vegetation will be planted across the concrete roofs and surrounding property and interspersed with gravel and rock.

"In order to create the sense that there were no interruptions within the landscape, a gently undulating surface was devised which would integrate every room into a single folding gesture and gradually separate from and rejoin with the landscape," the studio said.

All suites will have a pool and deck at the front to face the Sea of Cortez, and the roof will rise and curve overhead to form an entrance and pergola. A rear garden will be visible from the room. Rooms will come in three sizes with decor crafted by Mexican interior designer Paulina Morán with off-white and wooden surfaces.