A contemporary Mexican hotel emerges from a 16th-century ruin in Mérida

Behind the façade of this 16th-century, colonial-era villa in Mérida, México, is a transformed interior, radically overhauled by the Berlin-based architecture studio Zeller & Moye, working alongside local architect Carlos Cuevas.

From a complete ruin, albeit a historically significant and listed one, Ingrid Moye, Christoph Zeller and their team have shaped a new hotel, boutique in scale and detail, with an aesthetic that serves up faded grandeur alongside contemporary architectural gestures.

‘Our design approach follows the concept of a palimpsest,’ the architects say. ‘Present and past layers coexist next to each other and form one rich entity where one can still identify the interventions from different periods of time.’

The completed Hotel Sevilla offers just 21 rooms, maintaining a grand domestic scale that evokes its original function as a large urban dwelling. Room sizes range from 21 to 70 sq m, many of which have views into the interior courtyard and pool area, as well as several generous suites.

While the lightly ornamented façade has been preserved and restored, along with the internal colonnade with its chequerboard tiles, timber shutter doors and traditional wooden ceiling, there is also a host of more contemporary interventions.

The architects have taken care to distinguish these through the use of raw, unfinished concrete, absent of decorative pattern and mouldings and bearing only the imprint of shuttering and the marks of the mix.

‘These punctual interventions contrast confidently with the remains of the colonial architecture,’ say the design team, which included Harrison Cole Nesbitt, Luca Genualdo, Nina Meyer, Alex Pineda and Sarah Righi. In addition, the internal arrangement was altered from the original layout to better suit its new life as a hotel.

Wherever possible, original textures and surfaces have been preserved, such as the stone arches that project into the new patio rooms, along with minimalist modern elements like towering bedheads and a striking spiral staircase.

‘We’ve taken inspiration from local and traditional architecture, craftwork, local materials, and even rituals of the region; and have mixed it with influences of Mexican modernism to reshape the building and to design its furniture,’ say the architects. Design details and furnishings use a combination of stone, local wood and concrete, paired with brass, sisal and leather.

In addition to the rooms, Hotel Sevilla contains a bar and two restaurants, as well as a spa. The new pool is woven into the architectural fabric of the courtyard, while ponds also serve as ways to bring cooling and visual interest to the interior and exterior spaces. The architects have used regional tropical plants to create barriers between the various zones.

ZellerMoye.com, @ZellerandMoye

HotelSevilla-Merida.com