Otro Oaxaca, A RootStudio Project For Grupo Habita That Redefines Hospitality Through An Honest Minimalist Design

Immersed in the rich history and vibrant setting of the city of Oaxaca, OTRO Oaxaca is a hotel that redefines the accommodation experience with a design that radiates a powerful simplicity and honest materiality, and an architecture that balances the traditional and the contemporary.

Located in the center of the Oaxacan capital, with a spectacular view of the former monastery of Santo Domingo de Guzmán, OTRO Oaxaca, an innovative project by RootStudio—in partnership with Grupo Habita—offers visitors a new way to appreciate the majesty of this region through its fresh perspective on local hospitality and gastronomy in a space of functional sophistication that pays tribute to regional craftsmanship, aesthetics and materials.

OTRO Oaxaca exquisitely combines the simplicity of minimalism with the vernacular aesthetics of the city, using materials such as bricks, red earth from the valleys, polished cement, artisanal resins, steel, glass, concrete and recycled wood. These elements are woven together to create a sculptural architecture that emphasizes purity of form and respect for materiality.

Located at 505 Macedonio Alcalá, the hotel stands on a site previously occupied by tenement housing from the 1980s, near to the emblematic Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca (IAGO), respecting the urban scale of the site. In this way, RootStudio’s intervention maintains the volumetry of the bays of the neighboring buildings and the levels of the terrain, preserving the layout of the historic city.

The main building, inspired by the Mitla cross, is presented as a work of habitable sculpture, with an interplay of light and staircases that provide different experiences for the hotel’s users. Entering through the historic façade that preserves the hue of natural brick, guests at OTRO Oaxaca discover a 40-meter corridor built with repurposed wood from railway sleepers, which simultaneously connects and divides the space and becomes, at the same time, an invitation to explore.

The furniture, made by local craftspeople and designed almost entirely exclusively for the project, complements the architecture and adds a diversity of textures to each space, with the use of materials such as wood, upholstery, suede,resins and metals.

Thanks to its unique design, OTRO Oaxaca offers magnificent views of the entire city and its surroundings from its rooftop terrace with panoramic pool. In order to provide a sensory focus for visitors, an underground pool was also created, which blends with an incredible underground SPA experience, where sunlight subtly filters through to create a serene, intimate and relaxing atmosphere.

With OTRO Oaxaca, RootStudio reasserts its commitment to boosting local trades and know-how in construction, as well as respect for the environment and the principles of sustainability. This approach has made the studio an international benchmark in design and architecture.

OTRO Oaxaca joins RootStudio’s impressive portfolio, which includes projects such as Hotel Sin Nombre, Flavia Luxury Hotel, Casa Mulata, the Escuela Bachillerato de San Agustín Etla, the José F. Gómez and Gabriel López Chiñas libraries, the Centro Gastronómico de Oaxaca and the Rancho Cebú distillery in Tlacolula de Matamoros, all located in the state ofOaxaca.

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