AZULIK is an environmentally conscious resort in Tulum, Mexico. Roth-Architecture has designed a series of jungle "works of art" for the resort, with artistic expression, respect for nature, preservation of indigenous culture and ancestral techniques: exhibition halls, boutiques, and a sprawling art, hotel and retail venue deep in the jungle, AZALIK Uh May.
As roth-architecture designers, they use natural materials in ways they haven't used before, such as ceilings woven from ordinary jungle vines. The fluidity of the forms resonates with the patterns and shapes that emerge in the forest, and they refuse to cut down trees at any time. The sculptural elements in their work form a visual feature unique to practice. Here's what AZULIK resort Roth works.
Azulik Uh May
Architectural Design: Roth-Architecture
AZULIK Uh May is a new multifunctional art center in Francisco Uh May, Mexico, the latest project of Roth (Eduardo Neira). He is the founder and designer of the luxury resort AZULIK and the designer of the adjacent art space IK LAB.
Roth is responsible for the fascinating architectural design of these sites, each of which is environmentally conscious and ensures they do not leave a carbon footprint. The spaces are a fresh and imaginative combination of local materials, including polished cement surfaces that undulate from floor to ceiling and native "Bejuco" wood floors: vine-like plants native to the region.
These anthropomorphic buildings have tiber-like roofs that look like they grew naturally from the ground, and the different rooms are connected by floating bridges and meandering paths guided by spaces between trees.
AZULIK Uh May is a multi-faceted, flexible complex that will contain a range of creative spaces, an innovative art space, a lab dedicated to fashion and design, a recording studio in the state of art, and an artist's residency. At the center of the project, a school focused on the lingua franca of arts and crafts will bring together local Mayans, resident artists, international students and scholars.
For the opening of the center, IK Labs' Artistic Director Claudia Paetzold invited Ernesto Neto, Paulo Nazareth and Oskar Metsavaht to showcase immersive sculptures and installations. These works will reside in the new space of AZULIK Uh May, dedicated to contemporary art, aptly named IK LAB Uh May.
I LAB
In one of the most unique locations in Latin America, an unprecedented art gallery hosts a groundbreaking exhibition of contemporary art. IK LAB Tulum offers an unprecedentedly immersive cultural experience for the expanding local community and international visitors, fostering creativity, awareness and vision.
IK Labs is a bespoke project of artists and avant-garde residences that seeks to provide a framework for the world's finest creatives through a focus on eco-friendly design and interaction with the gallery's fantastic architecture. It captures the essence and heritage of the Yucatan Peninsula's rich nature, projecting it into a new future as an inspiration and role model outside the community.
To visit the Tulum Dome, visitors must cross a mysterious river in the jungle and walk on the water. The entrance is like a whirlpool, a curved tunnel with an unknown destination.
The walk from the art gallery to the dome is an adventure where visitors are surrounded by the sounds of natural waterfalls, a natural rain that will then turn into metallic rain.
Visitors are raised to a height of 4 meters and enter another space through the wooden glass doors of the IK Laboratory. Visually, the perspective and incredible scale of space create a huge sense of infinity, but the curves make people feel warm and safe.
Visitors are invited to interact barefoot, from cool smooth cut-out cement to warm rough "Bejuco" wooden floors, a surprising transition for visitors, with all external sounds becoming soft. The echoing sound of footsteps in the room amplifies the surreal dimension of the space.
The largest geometric dome is illuminated by two circular window openings that lead directly to the surrounding forest and sky. This magnificent space subverts the visiting experience inside the White Square Art Gallery as it reinforces the organic relationship between art and its physical environment. This structure hints at the invisible dimension, and the mind is already roaming through unforgettable journeys. This visionary project is man-made, a tribute to our land, and a well-meaning reminder that human beings were created by nature.
Zak Ik fashion boutique
An exclusive fashion boutique of fashion, design, architecture, jewelry and art has opened at the AZULIK Resort in Cancun, Mexico. While exploring the store's collections, customers can feel a space full of contrasts, unique textures and touches, and rich paths.
The design preserves the existing trees, the architecture blends with the natural environment, people can walk barefoot on the polished concrete floor, and the space is arranged with sidewalks and ramps on water mirrors, natural leaf tunnels, mesh spaces, and indoor vegetation.
The building is made of wood by Mayan craftsmen whose wood comes from the jiles and bejuco of the Yucatan Peninsula, reminiscent of the jungle surrounding the boutiques. The construction process leverages local materials and technologies to tap into the potential of the region's natural, cultural and human resources. The concrete flows along the natural shape of the ground throughout the space, becoming curved furniture, and its weight is correspondingly reduced as it passes through the gaps in the trees.
Respect for nature is at the heart of the programme. While protecting all the trees in the space, we build around nature, respect nature, and learn from it. Through the choice of material temperature and texture, as well as the consideration of different scales, details, skins and internal spatial structures, the architects attempted to build an indoor jungle.
Residence Uh May
The snail-like house hidden in the jungle, when you look closely, is a cement space that blends in with the jungle.
To avoid cutting down 250 trees and letting heavy machinery into the jungle, Uh May Residence built its exterior in cement with comfortable and simple materials and elaborate finishes making it a unique space in purely organic form.
The design of the space without edges and angles adds softness and naturalness, the excavated opening introduces lighting and makes the space vivid, and the trees shuttle through the opening of the space, and the interior part of the wood color decoration, forming a jungle-like living environment.
Trees are overgrown, and the sunlight leaves a dappled shadow in the pool surrounding the building, and the trees seem to drill out of the hole, which not only echoes the indoor space, but also provides fun for the surrounding landscape.