66 DIGS.NET
| 12.16.22
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S W E E T D I G S | C O N C R E T E J U N G L E
In designing the two-story boutique
hotel—a hybrid of tradition and the avant-
garde—one presumes that the French-born,
Mexico-based Godefroy was at least partially
motivated by what many of us have long
considered: Does Mexico really need
another discotheque-to-death megaho-
tel? Manifestly no. Of modest scale, the
architect's elegantly simple concept is a
striking rethink for the by-the-beach hospi-
tality scene: private and musing, with a
pretty unforgettable pool and a bent toward
eco-consciousness and social responsibility.
I
n peaceful La Punta Zicatela,
located in the Mexican state of Oaxaca,
Casa TO bathes not only in the golden
sunsets of a surfer's paradise, but also
in the glow of its standing as the most
architecturally interesting boutique hotel
in town. This cleverly abstracted concrete
oasis by architect Ludwig Godefroy is a
bold reinterpretation of an ancient Oaxa-
can temple, fusing tradition and modernity
with seclusion and exposure for something
not as much built as sculpted. Casa TO
is hardly the country's first flirtation with
concrete; Mexico's fidelity to the raw mate-
rial calls to mind the work of beloved son
Luis Barragán and Japan's Tadao Ando,
whose concrete art campus Casa Wabi,
another Oaxacan retreat, is a much-Insta-
grammed sensation. It is, however, plenty
worthy of following—all the way to south-
ernmost point of Puerto Escondido.
