Located in the heart of Playa del Carmen, Quin­tana Roo, Mexico, this mixed-use hotel is on one of the busiest and most important touristic avenues in the city known as 5th Avenue, a 5 km long pedestrian-orient­ed street filled with vitality and 24-hour activities.

Cacao Hotel Boutique had to integrate correct­ly to the street to maintain the vitality of the area and to trigger future developments that would con­tinue to promote the pedestrian activities within its context. Therefore, resulting in a mixed-use project with commercial areas that open to the active street fronts, without compromising the privacy of the hotel guests.

The hotel is conceived around the aesthet­ic values of the Mexican culture and translated it into a whole new contemporary concept where a central courtyard is the heart of the place, playing close attention to details and the use of natural materials.

The hotel has some commercial stores and restaurants on the ground and first floors that have a direct connection to the surrounding streets, contributing to their activation while creating self-monitored sidewalks throughout the day and night. As a re­sult, achieving to be a part of, and to promote city life. 

The building’s floor area is 9,067 m2 on a plot of 3,200 m2. The building has 60 spacious bedrooms and suites with a dining area, rooftop bar, and infinity pool.

During the beginning of the design process, the sidewalk was defined to be a fundamental aspect of the project, an integrating factor with the exterior of the building; being so, the existing gap between the sidewalk and the street was removed, resulting in the integration and expansion of both ele­ments, ele­ments, giving more importance to the pedestrian and revitalizing the surrounding walkway areas.

Inspired by colonial Mexican architecture, a tra­ditional central patio is incorporated into the design. Al­lowing the entrance of natural light and crossed venti­lation. Moreover, the paved stone courtyard covered by parasols provides natural shade with a light white textile canopy that provides the illusion of open space and gen­tly diffuses the intensity of the sun during the day. One of the major influences within the design schemes were the bioclimatic factors, located on an extremely humid and hot climate, a grid that allows crossed ventilation was in­corporated allowing the cooling down of temperatures and shadings within the building.

Visitors can enter the hotel through both sides of the building, the main entrance is located to the northeast, while the secondary entryway is oriented to the southeast, an appealing way to discover the inner courtyard.

On the other side, Cacao is placed on a strong and continuous wind zone, so there was proposed a 10 by 10 meters model unit that houses the hotel bedrooms detached from each unit by open 1.5-meter-wide corridors, which allows circulation to rooms and cross ventilation. This scheme finally defines the building envelope.  

 Bedrooms are located from the second to the fourth level, making the last floor a rooftop terrace amenity with a pool, gym, business center and a sunbathing facility.