Architecture firm: Estudio Macías Peredo, Guadalajara, Mexico

The details: Merging harmoniously with the sea, the family-owned Punta Caliza is situated in Isla Holbox, a fishing village off the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico that’s only reachable by ferry. It’s partially the vision of Claudia Muñoz, an architecture student at ITESO – Universidad Jesuita de Guadalajara, who introduced her parents (also the hotel’s developers) to her professors Magui Peredo and Salvador Macías Corona of Estudio Macías Peredo, which proved to be a fateful event as they charged the architects with crafting the island retreat in homage to the area. “The small hotel emerges from the site to negotiate with rising sea levels on an unstable island or it anticipates this with its drowned cloister, depending on the viewpoint,” explains firm cofounder Macías Corona. Channeling Mexico’s ancient Mayan buildings, traditional courtyards connect the different buildings that house each of the 12 guestrooms, and the duo chose materials firmly rooted in the culture, such as thatched roofs, limestone floors and walls, and chukum—a Mayan stucco commonly used to seal water reservoirs. For a truly authentic touch, the rich, intricate woodwork found throughout is made with cedar from Muñoz’s tree farm. But what makes the property even more unique is the fact that guestroom plunge pools link to a main canal that’s also swimmable, making the white structures feel like they are floating on water.