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Location, Location, Location

The hotel is sited in the cosmopolitan Polanco District of Mexico City, adjacent to lush Chapultepec Park (the city's equivalent of New York's Central Park). KMD Mexico had been working on a design for another hotel in the same location with Grupo Plan, a Mexico City developer and the site's owner, but the deal fell apart just after the building foundations had been poured. Enter the W, which was looking for its second location outside the United States and first in Latin America.

Kept on as the architect, KMD Mexico proceeded to redesign the building for the W's special needs. Both the design concept and the structural organization were changed entirely to include more openness and fluidity. The building footprint could not be changed significantly, however, because they wanted to use the existing foundations on the small quarter-acre (0.1-hectare) site.

Fortunately, Polanco's high-density fabric is well suited for a 25-story, 237-room hotel with six levels of underground parking and the requisite upscale restaurants, lounge and bar areas, outdoor terraces, spa, and 6,900 square feet (640 square meters) of meeting space and conference facilities.

Placing the Brand

One of the major challenges in this project was reconciling the W's need to exploit its ubiquitous brand with KMD's philosophy of "place making." As defined by Juan Diego Perez-Vargas, director of KMD's International Group, this philosophy proposes that each building has a unique personality that is in harmony with its surroundings and that attracts people to use the space in their daily lives. How to reconcile the dichotomy of a unique representative of an international brand?

"The goal," Perez-Vargas states, "was to blend the best of both worlds, to allow the best and strongest allure of the W brand to float beautifully in Mexico City." The first task was to discern what the W brand was in order to reinforce it consistently.

With words like sleek, fluid, and transparent in mind, KMD Mexico designed a straightforward tower of guestrooms set atop a five-story glass base of public spaces, emphasizing interior spatial flow and the relationship between seeing and being seen.

Second, place was addressed through the integration of local materials in a contemporary way. The most obvious example is the use of the native volcanic stone recinto for large portions of interior and exterior surfaces. This is possibly the first time this stone has been used as exterior cladding. Local culture also creeps into the design intermittently, in, for instance, the pre-Columbian temazcal (steam bath) and the bold use of vibrant colors throughout.

Open Spaces — Indoors and Out

Though the public spaces may be what neighbors know of the W Hotels, the guest rooms are what appeal to travelers. According to Perez-Vargas, KMD Mexico designed the rooms from the inside out. He explains: "With the dimensions set, we then looked at what we could do to put it on the site." The order of design is clear in the inventive layout of the "Loft Suites," the "Cool Corner Suites," and the "Extreme Wow Suite," as well as the standard rooms — something many hotel designers all but ignore.

Each guestroom is treated like an urban loft space with designated areas for sleeping, work, and relaxation. There are no room dividers except a privacy curtain at the bath area. Treated as a mini-spa instead of the typical urban box, the bathroom in each guestroom has been organizationally flipped, creating an immersive patio-like space — complete with hammock — adjacent to the large exterior windows.

Cherry-red walls accentuate the signature white beds and play off the white travertine of the bath area. Natural light flows in, while stunning views allow guests to enjoy the city from their tower above.

Below, in the five-story, irregular glass volume, the public spaces also thrive on spatial fluidity. The transparency of the exterior walls allows hotel activities to become part of the neighborhood despite the building's narrow street face.   >>>

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The height and siting of the W Hotel tower, by KMD Mexico, gives each guestroom an impressive view of Mexico City. Photo: KMD The entry lobby flows into the terraced lounge areas beyond and above. Photo: KMD Banquette seating areas in the second-story restaurant "solea" are separated from the main dining space with red sliding glass partitions. Photo: KMD In contrast to the norm, all guestrooms have bathroom areas separated only by a curtain and placed adjacent to the exterior windows. Guestrooms also have large work areas for business travelers. Photo: KMD Lobby level floor plan. Image: KMD Restaurant level floor plan. Image: KMD Spa level floor plan. Image: KMD Typical guestroom level floor plan. Image: KMD   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.