The El Blok Hotel

Recently included in Architectural Digest Russia’s ‘Most Interesting Hotels From around the World’, the El Blok Hotel - located in the town Esperanza at the south of the island of Vieques, off the Eastern coast of Puerto Rico - is a modern interpretation of a 1960s island hotel aesthetic. Architect Nathaniel Fuster of Fuster + Partners, Puerto Rico, describes it as a project that’s hard to define,"…solid yet perforated, enclosed yet open, urban yet rural, and rational yet organic."

Boasting 22 rooms, a rooftop terrace and a restaurant by James Beard Award winning chef Jose Enrique, this compact structure sits on a tiny site previously inhabited by a single family dwelling. Its curvilinear shapes aim to mediate between the natural coastal landscape and Esperanza’s Malecon (beach front promenade) with exterior concrete lattice work panels reinforced with glass fiber to allow for plenty of ventilation and natural light and an interior finished in a polished plaster and bright tile work in sea-inspired colors. Mid-century modern furnishings complete a casual yet pristine and airy aesthetic.