Architecture and design firms: T.A.X, Década, and Grupo Habita, Mexico City

The details: Oaxaca’s historical center is lined with brick-paved streets and colorful façades, the blocks brimming with art museums, mezcal shops, and throngs of outdoor markets. Amid this bustling scene is Escondido Oaxaca, the latest property from Grupo Habita.

“To create a hotel, we dig deep into the local culture,” says Carlos Couturier, founding and managing partner of the Mexican hotel company, who collaborated with Mexico City-based design firm Década to curate the hotel’s interiors. The result is a minimalist design that opts for organic materials like wood, concrete, stucco walls, and fabrics and textiles woven in nearby communities.

The 12 accommodations are split between a renovated historic house original to the 19th-century property and a newly built tower nestled in the back garden, constructed and preserved by architect Alberto Kalach of local firm T.A.X. Rooms in the original house encircle a courtyard, while gravel walkways and red brick paths link to suites in the new building, some of which open up to private balconies. Here, Couturier says, “the outdoors become one with the room.”

This article originally appeared in HD’s June 2020 issue.