La Lomita Resort by ASPJ Architecture, Landscape and Territory in Valle de Bravo, Mexico

Project: La Lomita Resort
Architects: ASPJ Architecture, Landscape and Territory
Location: Valle de Bravo, Mexico
Year: 2019
Photography by: Nin Solis

La Lomita Resort by ASPJ Architecture, Landscape and Territory

The La Lomita Resort is a unique project by ASPJ Architecture, Landscape and Territory that offers a local alternative to traditional housing while fostering connection with nature and community. This project was developed in collaboration with local organizations, reflecting a commitment to building locally using sustainable and eco-friendly materials and technologies.

Located on the summit of a hill with breathtaking views, La Lomita is a well-designed wooden building incorporating rainwater harvesting, water recycling, and wastewater treatment systems integrated into the landscape design.

The project's starting point was creating a local alternative with identity and intention to be replicable in regions with similar climatic conditions, developed through collaboration with various community organizations such as the Country Revival Network, Flor School and Kanto rural families. This reflects a desire to build locally while staying connected with our roots and beliefs, as the site also means familiarity.

The La Lomita Resort derives its name from its location at the top of a hill at the end of a trail. It is a sanctuary offering views over the monumental landscape of surrounding mountains. The building is light in its environment, with minimal impact and reasonable dimensions. It occupies only twenty percent of the plot, allowing for generous production space where edible and medicinal plants from the Valle de Bravo basin are grown—reviving the Mayan tradition of gardening to feed the family.

The construction system follows simple assembly, allowing for reuse of wooden materials and responding to relatively extreme bioclimatic parameters: rain, humidity, and high solar irradiation. The well-designed wooden building enhances material thermal properties and looks aesthetically pleasing: the house provides excellent thermal comfort and is suitable for all seasons. The roof arch was restored from a previous structure, showing the exact path of summer sun.

The house is equipped with a roof-based rainwater harvesting system that supplies domestic water and garden irrigation. Water recycling and wastewater treatment systems are visible through the collection and infiltration areas, as well as integrated wastewater treatment systems within the landscape design of the garden: water management logic is embedded in both environment and construction.

The model has been successfully replicated in several locations, one of which became a storage and distribution center for organic products from the region where both consumers and workers used wood and assembly technologies to reproduce the project.

— ASPJ Architecture, Landscape and Territory