UJ #8 - Arequipa

INTERVIEW
Christian Declercq
Christian Declercq
Event and reception area
designed to mimic a
traditional Andean square.
Following page: Fields of
quinua —an Andean plant
native to Peru— provide
one of the characteristic
views around the hotel.
“WE OPENED THE HOTEL IN
1995, BUT WE HAVE BEEN
HERE SINCE 1986. THAT WAS
THE YEAR WHEN WE BUILT THE
FIRST PART OF WHAT WOULD
LATER BECOME THE LODGE.
WHEN WE STARTED THERE
WAS NO ELECTRICITY, NO
COMMUNICATIONS, NO FRESH
WATER AND NO DRAINS; NOT
EVEN THE BRIDGE HAD BEEN
BUILT YET"
apart from the spa, which has won prizes for
its architecture in Peru, was the thermal pool. I
wanted to make as few alterations as possible
during construction so that when you’re in the
water you feel as if you’re surrounded by nature.
You have to provides services as well, like
changing rooms, somewhere to eat and drink,
and so it grew until we built this barbecue area,
but the premise is always that the buildings
don’t jar with the environment.
Providing thermal pools also involves a
logistic complexity that we, the visitors,
don’t see.
When we were thinking about how to handle
the thermal springs, the problem was how
to pass the water between them. One pool is
fed by the hottest water at more than eighty
degrees centigrade, which is too hot to bathe
in. The idea was to mix it with the spring water
to cool it, but we didn’t know how build
the channels for the water. We decided that
the system of terraced fields, so prevalent in
the zone, was the clue, and so we built the
channels with help from local people. Today we
have made so many innovations to our thermal
spring system that we even have the water circulating
below the floors of the rooms; a sort of
clean and sustainable central heating system
that costs no more than periodic maintenance.
What’s the latest thing you’ve built?
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