NM Lima Hotel
San Isidro, Lima (2006-2010)
Hotel Renovation and Extension

The lobby of a hotel is the most public and cosmopolitan space in the private areas of the city, so when asked to extend and renovate an existing hotel, we were interested in emphasising this accessible nature of the lobby. If hotel rooms are the volume that protect a guest from the foreign city in which he dwells, the lobby is a medium that connects him to it. We drew out this theory in our design by replacing the existing, solid ground floor wall with a fully glazed curtain wall, creating a space that is both physically and visually connected to the external world.
We accepted the importance of utilising a generic programme in order to bring familiarity to the space, including bars, saloons and restaurants. However, we also strove to design a ‘memorable space’ that made the experience of this hotel unique; an inner courtyard exposed to Lima’s unique climate, creating a private public space, which provides a stage for multiple encounters with people from all over the world.