Interview with Santiago Carral, KMD Architects
One of the compliments that we receive most often from Rivera Cuale’s owners and visitors is that our architecture is exceptional. We are also told that our amenities far exceed the competition and that our attention to every detail is remarkable. For that reason, we will center this article on the architecture of Rivera Cuale and tell you what’s behind it.
We are very proud to hear from KMD Architects, one of the top ten design firms in the world, to show you what the inspiration is behind the project, why this project stands out amongst the competition, and why Rivera Cuale has won multiple international awards and awes residents and visitors alike.
We recently had the opportunity to interview Santiago Carral, the director in charge of the Rivera Cuale project at KMD Architects, and we asked him…
What is the inspiration behind Rivera Cuale?
Rivera Cuale is a project that truly inspired our team of architects. We conceived the design by immersing ourselves in Puerto Vallarta’s lifestyle and its traditional architecture. Since I was a child I remember spending most of my summers in this beautiful town. Thirty years ago, Vallarta was a very different place, and despite that, the town has retained its traditional character with handsome architecture, cobblestone streets, quaint restaurants and art galleries; there has also been exponential growth around “Bahia de Banderas” and like everywhere else in the world…not all of it is great architecture. We wanted to do something that was modern and state of the art, yet that maintained the authenticity of Vallarta style architecture and embraced the village lifestyle.
Tell us about Rivera Cuale’s architecture.
Embracing local architecture was the underlying theme we wanted to carry throughout the project. So in everything we designed, we first thought about how it was done locally and then adapted it to our project.
Introducing architectural elements such as spacious terraces to enjoy the incredible weather that Vallarta has year round and connecting these outdoor areas to the indoor spaces allowed the units to visually and physically expand their living area outside.
How does Rivera Cuale relate to its surroundings?
We think that every project is different and as such, it should respond to its surroundings, to its site and context, local climate, and most importantly to the local culture. We were thrilled with the challenge to design this project with the prime guideline that we were to think about its strong roots with Vallarta and the architecture that defines it. A number of unique approaches were implemented in order to respond to our neighborhood and its surroundings:
- We positioned the building to maximize views and also to address the urban fabric from Vallarta’s downtown by extending the grid and responding to the street geometries. Basically, the goal was to ensure that the project would flow and engage with the surrounding area.
- By setting the building back from the river, we created a generous space for the pool and amenities that at the same time allows us a window to appreciate this natural element even more. With this relief we manage to respect the context and embrace the unique qualities of the site. Let’s face it, we rarely get an opportunity to design a project along such a prominent feature, and we did our best to integrate the lush vegetation and crystalline running water into our amenities’ experience.
What added value did KMD Architects bring to the table?
Even though every developer intends to maximize their return, one of our first recommendations was to lower the allowed density and units on site and increase green area as well as amenity space, also allowing for units that were better tailored to our intended market. Rivera Cuale’s owners immediately understood the value of differentiating ourselves from the competition by offering a unique product by improving its core principles of design, quality and long-term value.
In an upcoming month we will carry on the interview and talk about sustainability, so stay tuned…
Prepared by Leanne Smith, Rivera Cuale
