Isay Weinfeld

Las Piedras Fasano is a hospitality complex in Punta del Este, Uruguay. It combines private homes, hotel bungalows and other amenities – spa, equestrian center, golf and polo fields and a 3-km beach stretch on the riverside of Arroyo Maldonado -, spreading across vast 480 hectares dominated by a dramatic and dazzling landscape: arid, rocky, with sparse low vegetation.
The scenery inspired the previous owner to erect, with the rocks found in the area, his home and studio. Upon our arrival to the first land reconnaissance visit, we had no doubt those buildings – rustic and of unique workmanship – should be preserved.
The detailed study of the program/client brief led us to resort to scattering the units making up the complex, conceived and distributed as isolated modules that “landed naturally” on the terrain, such as the rocks themselves – a solution intended at preventing the erection of massive buildings or volumes that might excessively interfere with the landscape. It also led to the decision of setting the hotel reception and the Las Piedras Restaurant at the ancient home and, at the studio, the Fasano Restaurant.
All other structures – 20 bungalows (860sqft or 1290sqft), the spa, the swimming pool bar and the lounge for events – were built following the same concept, scattered around the property and laid just as the piedras themselves.