Las Piedras Fasano_hotel bar

Las Piedras Fasano is a development whose construction is starting in Punta del Este, Uruguay. It combines private homes, hotel bungalows and other amenities - spa, equestrian center, polo fields and a 3-km beach stretch on the riverside of Arroyo Maldonado -, spreading across vast 480 hectares dominated by a dramatic and dazzling landscape: arid, rocky, with sparse low vegetation.

The scenery inspired the previous owner to erect, with the rocks found in the area, his home and an annex.

Upon our arrival to the first land reconnaissance visit, we had no doubt those buildings – rustic and of unique workmanship – should be preserved.

The detailed study of the program/client brief led us to resort to scattering the units making up the complex, conceived and distributed as isolated modules that “landed naturally” on the terrain, such as the rocks themselves – a solution intended at preventing the erection of massive buildings or volumes that might excessively interfere with the landscape. It also led to the decision of setting the hotel reception at the ancient home and, at the annex – formerly, the owner's private quarters - the hotel bar.

Once the urban master plan for the development was defined, the renovation project of both buildings started – the only facilities currently ready and in use at the development.
Very few interventions were made to the annex, built on the highest point of the property and offering prime views of the surroundings: internally, the wooden walls, floors, doors, windows e ceilings were kept; externally, a new wooden deck, at a lower level, was added to the existing one.

Interconnected to the annex, a completely new volume was built, to house the kitchen and supporting facilities: made of raw concrete and slightly lower than the stone house, it establishes a respectful relationship with it and does not stick out in the rocky landscape in any way.

Isay Weinfeld
S?o Paulo, Brazil. 1952

Architect and filmmaker.

Amongst the various projects developed over more than 30 years ? several of them award-winning ? there are houses, commercial buildings, banks, advertising agencies, hotels, stores, restaurants, etc..., in Brazil and abroad.

Awarded several times by the IAB (Brazilian Institute of Architects), he was also granted a prize in the VI Bienal Internacional de Arquitetura de S?o Paulo, in 2005, for Amauri Square, and the Yellow Pencil Prize in the D&AD Awards for Livraria da Vila bookstore.

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