Location
Mayakoba
Date of Completion
2026
Scope
Remodeling, Interior Design
and FF&E
Director
Katherine Von Berner
Design Team
Santiago Pérez de Olavarría
Nina Franke
Daniela García
Martha Genda
Photography
Alila Mayakoba
BRIEF
We were invited to rethink and transform the hotel’s shared spaces, from the arrival sequence to the beach club. The scope encompassed the reception pavilion, wellness and spa facilities, food-and-beverage venues, and the beach club. Each area was conceived as part of a cohesive spatial experience, articulated through a consistent material logic and a shared architectural language, yet carefully calibrated to offer distinct atmospheres and moments throughout the property.
Understanding the relationship between context and built environment was paramount to our approach — particularly across two distinct micro-systems: the inland condition, defined by its intimate dialogue with the lagoon, the mangrove, and the iconic canal network that threads through Mayakoba, connecting pavilion to pavilion like a quiet circulatory system.
ARRIVAL
The arrival pavilion establishes the project’s conceptual framework. An open, porous volume articulated through raw natural materials, it is organized around a central water feature and a vertical void that draws light and air into the space—an architectural evocation of the region’s cenotes.
Art and furniture function as mediating elements throughout the project, calibrated to modulate atmosphere while preserving formal continuity. Curated under the same principles of contextual materiality and chromatic restraint, the artworks allow each space to assert its own identity without fragmenting the overall composition.
Concierge functions, lounge areas, and a welcoming bar are choreographed within a single fluid gesture, allowing orientation, pause, and ritual to coexist. The space operates as a moment of transition—measured, contemplative, and emblematic of the Alila sensibility.
Materiality operates as the primary design language. Furniture and architectural elements were conceived as bespoke components, integral to the spatial composition rather than decorative additions. Indigenous hardwoods such as tzalam, spanish cedar, and rosa morada introduce warmth and chromatic richness, while hand-chiseled Mérida limestone and recuperated travertine contribute texture, weight, and a sense of geological continuity. These materials are allowed to age naturally, embracing patina as part of the project’s temporal narrative.
Wellness spaces are approached with equal rigor. Rather than a wholesale reinvention, the spa intervention refines and amplifies the existing architecture through enhanced material articulation and spatial sequencing.
New open-air hydrotherapy areas, a temazcal, and an outdoor yoga deck extend the experience beyond enclosure, dissolving boundaries between interior and landscape. The result is a restorative environment where architecture operates as a quiet framework for introspection and reconnection.
The second micro-system belongs to the Riviera Maya in its most elemental form: white sand, slow tides, and water so luminous it seems to begin before you reach it. The design response demanded a different register entirely: where the inland condition called for enclosure and material depth, the shoreline called for openness, porosity, and a precise calibration of the moment architecture surrenders to landscape.
BEACH CLUB
A surgical reconfiguration indoors opened the existing structure toward the sea, while a new system of timber pergolas — articulated across three distinct platforms — extended the program outward: a beach bar for craft cocktails, a stage animated by regional rhythms, and a collection of private cabanas where the Caribbean horizon becomes the only backdrop that matters.
Alila Mayakoba is a project defined by precision, restraint, and cultural fluency. Through a careful orchestration of material, craft, and spatial clarity, the studio constructs not merely a destination, but an architectural dialogue—one that honors its environment while articulating a contemporary vision of luxury rooted firmly in place.
