MARRIOTT COURTYARD

COPIAPO, ATACAMA, CHILE

Area:   60.000sqft

Status:   Canceled

Client:   EMS Chile Development  LLP

Description:   The city of Copiapois located in the Region of Atacama, in the very middle of the Atacama desert. The city is mainly dependent on the copper mining around the area. Because of the high price of the copper during the first part of the decade due to the large needs of metal from China, many projects of development were projected to receive the large new population eligibly coming to the city. Among them, Marriott decided to open their first Hotel in Chile outside of Santiago in here. 

The site was adjacent to the first train station in Chile, and the first railroad in South America was the segment between this station and the one in the port of Caldera. The strong character and tradition of trains gave us a few ques on the design. Otherwise generic, the design included existing rails in its envelope, as well as the local stone to be used on the cladding. It’s a Marriott Courtyard indeed, but built partially with local matter.