A Vertical Village Rising from the Tulum Jungle.

At Tulum’s urban edge, where tourism has taken its toll on the landscape, Mexican practice V Taller has built Babel, a mixed-use development packing 59 residential and hotel units into just under 6,200 square metres. Instead of spreading out into the jungle, the building goes up.

This is a territory still dominated by nature, where architecture is legitimate only if it repairs, rebalances, and extends the site’s ecological logic. V Taller has positioned Babel as an ethical declaration rather than a formal gesture—rebuilding the bond between built and natural, restoring vitality to the land, and plugging it back into the environmental matrix that sustains it. The result is a framework for cohabitation: flexible, sustainable, and ready for the climatic and social shifts ahead.

The client wanted two things: a tower and arches. While we are quite sensitive to the overuse of arches in contemporary design content, Architects Miguel Valverde and Daniel Villanueva took those requests and made them work hard. The tower anchors the centre of two curved forms that create an eye-shaped plan, with a courtyard at its heart that cools the air and draws people together. The arches do triple duty—they hold things up, throw deep shade, and mark the shift between inside and out, public and private.

A Micro Hospitality Experience: Nico Sayulita Hotel in Mexico by Hybrid and Palma.

Immersed in the jungle-lined coast of Sayulita, Mexico, is Nico, a micro hospitality experience designed by Hybrid and Palma. Indoor and outdoor spaces combine throughout the building in a concrete grid structure, exploring thresholds and making the most of the local climate.

The courtyard is where the whole thing comes alive. A circular pool at the tower’s base softens temperatures, while layered planting blurs the line between built and green. The mix of uses keeps the place humming year-round: homes sit alongside coworking spaces, a spa with herbal steam baths, a vegetarian restaurant, a zen garden, yoga studio, and an ASMR room with a ‘sleep concierge’. Wellness without the cheesy resort vibe.

Inside the tower, the mood shifts to something calmer—think hammam without the clichés. Small openings overhead let daylight draw shadows across the walls as the hours pass. At the top, a triangular opening frames the sky for stargazing. The sky becomes part of the architecture.

Materials tie everything to place. The main finish is chukum, a lime-based stucco from the Yucatán that handles heat better than synthetic alternatives. Inside the units, white linens and tropical timbers, like Tzalam, Machiche, and Parota, keep things light and grounded. Clay pieces add warmth and connect the spaces to local craft.

Here’s the rub, tough—while the architecture is strong and purposeful, the interiors feel weaker in their expression and fine-grain detail. The fit-out lacks the conviction of the envelope. It’s a shame, but unfortunately not uncommon—the gap between architectural ambition and interior resolution is something we see too often in projects of this scale.

The building works with the climate, not against it. Orientation and stepping catch breezes. Arches and vaults push hot air up and out. The courtyard water, planting, and thick walls smooth out temperature swings through the day. Comfort comes from how it’s shaped, not from air conditioning.

Babel positions itself not as an isolated object but as a regenerative agent—reducing footprint, concentrating density vertically, and returning land to living processes. It’s a development that doesn’t settle for minimising damage but aspires to give back more than it takes.

A Concrete Vision: Casa TO Boutique Hotel in Mexico by Ludwig Godefroy.

Inside Ludwig Godefroy’s concrete masterpiece is a calming and sensory oasis. A beautiful interpretation of Mexico’s Oaxacan Temple, Casa TO offers visitors a heightened sensory experience with voluminous voids and grand cut-outs.

[Images courtesy of V Taller. Photography by Albers Studio, Spaces by Conie, Lazarillo, Daniel Villanueva and Funciono.]