Fasano Las Piedras houses, Uruguay Property Design, Punta del Este Buildings Pictures, Architect

Fasano Las Piedras, Punta del Este

New Residences in Uruguay design by Isay Weinfeld architects

18 Aug 2011

Design: Isay Weinfeld

Location: Punta del Este, Uruguay

Las Piedras Fasano is a hospitality complex in Punta del Este, Uruguay.

Fasano Las Piedras

It combines private homes, hotel bungalows and other amenities – spa, equestrian center, golf and 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 studio. 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, 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 and the Las Piedras Restaurant at the ancient home and, at the studio, the Fasano Restaurant. Once the urban master plan for the development was defined, the renovation project of both buildings started.

Very few interventions were made to the studio, built on the highest point of the property and offering prime views of the surroundings: internally, the wooden walls, floors, doors, windows and ceilings were kept; externally, a new wooden deck, at a lower level, was added to the existing one.

Interconnected to the studio, 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.

All other structures – 20 bungalows (80m2 or 120m2), the spa, the swimming pool bar and the lounge for events – were built on the plot following the same concept, scattered around the property and laid just as the piedras themselves.