Botanique Hotel & Spa
"Botanique's architecture proposes the experience of having a wood construction placed in the heart's source of its raw material: the forrest"
Surrounded by picturesque hillsides and stunning ridges, the Botanique Hotel & Spa is located in the junction of three river valleys in the heart of the Mantiqueira Mountains. Despite being hidden in the middle of a mid-tropical forest, 1200m above sea level, it is only 12 km from the city of Campos do Jordão in the Bairro dos Mellos neighborhood.
As we became more familiar with the surroundings we came across a large number of Norman style houses that seemed rather misplaced in Brazil. Nonetheless it inspired the architectural language used for the project as we weaved together this borrowed European style with a contemporary appeal.
The complex consists of a main building containing six rooms, a restaurant and a spa. Detached from this building, eleven villas were designed as a series of connected views, bedrooms, fireplaces and charming bathrooms providing continuity to a sequence of experiences.
The main building’s design was focused on harmonizing pitched roofs floating over monumental glass facade, creating playful asymmetries and mixing vernacular materials such as local stone and wood. A truly unique style emerged as large volumes of stone, towering glass facade, chocolate colored slate and old reclaimed wood pillars and beams.
The beauty of the rough wood and its structural connections become an architectural feature as they are deliberately exposed.
The green of the surrounding forest was the only color allowed to be juxtaposed onto the natural yellowish stone and wood tones that enveloped the building. Due to the lightness and transparency of the monumental glass facade, this natural green backdrop completed the interior design just as beautifully as it composed the exterior views.
