Tierra Atacama Hotel Landscape Project by Teresa Moller Landscape Studio

A Tribute to the Unveiling of Chilean Travertine

In the driest desert in the world, among salt flats, rock formations, and hot springs, a lunar landscape is framed by mountain ranges. At the opening of this place of pure, star-filled skies that enhance the terracotta earth, an oasis appears — the town of San Pedro de Atacama, in northern Chile. Here, travellers from distant corners of the world come seeking refuge as they witness this mysterious natural spectacle.

The area of our intervention is home to an old site that dates back to the time of long trans-Andean journeys taken by cattle herders. A vestige that still stands as a witness to time, with adobe walls shaped by the hands of the locals.
Originally, the place was an animal corral. The challenge today was to transform it into the hotel’s entrance courtyard. Intervening required a certain boldness — a difficult decision to take, especially after many previous proposals had been turned down.

In 2005, our office developed the hotel’s original landscape project. At the time, the focus was on highlighting the site’s agricultural past. A new phase was called for from 2023 onwards, renewing areas and placing special emphasis on revitalising the hotel’s entrance — known as the Patio de los Toros (Bull Courtyard).

It was within this same northern region that we came across a material that would later become central to our practice: Chilean travertine, discovered in the Loa River basin. Since that moment, our work in landscape architecture took a new direction, embracing and revealing this hidden treasure of the desert.
We had the opportunity to present it on several occasions, including the Venice Biennale in 2016 and the IGA in Berlin in 2017. When the invitation arrived to take part in this new phase of the Tierra Atacama Hotel project, our dream of working with Chilean travertine was returning home — to its place of origin.
Surprisingly, travertine has yet to be used anywhere else in San Pedro, despite the quarry lying just a few kilometres from town. This noble, pristine material reveals the story of our planet, written in stone — and it has inspired our entire project.

Our proposal seeks to build a space as a tribute to this material, allowing it to express itself in all its forms — through paving, furniture, and a sculptural installation composed of carefully selected blocks left behind by the quarry.
As it crosses the courtyard, a channel guides water from one of the blocks to a pond, where it mirrors the ancient algarrobo tree standing in quiet guardianship. The sound of the water flows softly through this small oasis.

Surrounding the stone intervention, a grove of native trees — chañares and algarrobos — is beginning to grow, bringing life and shade to the space. They welcome the traveller upon arrival, guiding them back to life through their native plants, which gently embrace the marble-like ruins of the landscape.

• Project typology:

Hospitality: Landscape intervention within a hotel entrance courtyard of approximately 1500m². Transformation of a former animal enclosure into a stone patio shaped by Chilean travertine and native desert vegetation.

• All landscape architecture offices involved in the design of landscape:

Teresa Moller Landscape Studio

• All architecture offices involved in the design:

Teresa Moller Landscape Studio

• Other credits:

Studio team: Teresa Moller (Head of Design and Site Supervision), Mariana Suau, Javiera Martínez, Bernardita Zamorano.
Stoneworks execution: Carlos Salinas
Planting works execution: Christian Rojas

• Location of the project

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile.