Work/Branding & Image/Boutique Hotel Casa Lum

Boutique Hotel
Casa Lum

● San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas Boutique hotel · Interior & lighting design Branding & Image

Casa Lum — entrance lobby with a cluster of custom pendant lanterns over a patterned tile runner — Casa Lum — the entrance hall, where a cluster of custom lanterns warms the restored adobe and timber of an 1800s house.

In the historical downtown of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, the brand-new Hotel Casa Lum found its perfect location in a house from the 1800s, protected by the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

Because the building is protected, the interior and lighting were conceived to respect its Spanish colonial architecture — red tile roofs, thick adobe walls, wrought-iron balconies and wood structural ceilings. Working closely with the client and the constructor, we built the lighting concept they were after: mysterious, elegant scenes, balanced natural and electric levels, and an efficient use of energy.

Our main strategy was to create layers of light, mixing fluorescent, LED and incandescent sources, all synchronised through a control system. In some spaces the architecture is the main actor and the lamps stay hidden; in others the fixtures take the lead. Ninety-five percent of the decorative fixtures are custom made, so each room is given its own soul.

Sustainability shaped the project throughout. Based on a power-density study using the space-by-space method, the design reduced total watts by 14% against the strictest code — ASHRAE versus local regulation — while holding the illuminance standards of the IES Handbook.

Sometimes the architecture is the main actor; sometimes the light is. Each room is given its own soul.

Sandra Luna Design

GallerySelected views

Colonnaded corridor with original stone columns and warm pooled light — A colonnade along the original stone columns, where low, warm pools of light let the architecture lead.

Stone wall set with recessed light niches under raking daylight — Daylight rakes a stone wall set with recessed light niches.

Suite with turquoise mezzanine stair and a desk niche — A suite stair and desk niche — daylight and graded electric light read as one continuous scene.

Twin guestroom with skylight beams and woven textile wall hangings — A twin guestroom opening to a garden, lit to flatter the woven Chiapas textiles.

Guestroom with a custom lantern pendant above the bed — A custom lantern pendant anchors the guestroom; the colonial doors are picked out in soft light.

Grazing light washing a hand-finished plaster wall beneath timber beams — Light grazes a hand-finished plaster wall beneath the original timber beams — the fixtures stay unseen.

Attic dining area under exposed wood beams — An intimate dining nook tucked under the exposed roof structure.

Bed with a carved, backlit headboard niche — A carved, backlit headboard niche gives the room its own quiet character.

Indirect light concealed within the timber ceiling structure — Indirect light tucked into the timber ceiling grazes the wood and reveals its grain.

Backlit room-name light box with the name written in Tzotzil Maya — A backlit light box names each room in the Tzotzil Maya language.

Custom pendant fixture against the original beamed ceiling — A custom decorative pendant set against the building's original beams.

Custom corridor luminaire with a cast bronze hummingbird — A custom corridor luminaire, crowned with a cast hummingbird.

Custom LUM-family wood-and-glass lantern fixture glowing amber — The LUM-family lantern — one of the custom fixtures developed for the hotel.

Ninety-five percent of the decorative fixtures shown were custom made for Casa Lum — see Products & Design for the fixture families.

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