Tierra Patagonia Hotel, Torres del Paine National Park

The desert- and glacier-scapes of the north and extreme south of Chile have become associated with striking architecture. The new Tierra Patagonia Hotel & Spa designed by Cazu Zegers, Roberto Benavente and Rodrigo Ferre, is no exception. Located on the shore of Lake Sarmiento, nestled at the entrance to Torres del Paine National Park in Chile is a fossil-inspired construction built from local resources which blends weathered wood and sloping stones to showcase its surrounding mountain landscape. The 60-m-long curved building is reminiscent of  ‘an old fossil, a prehistoric animal beached on the lake shore, like those studied by Charles Darwin,’ says Zegers. She says she took inspiration from her years of travel in Southern Chile.