Papaya Playa Project, a hotel and beach club in Tulum, Mexico, has created the Treehouse — an exercise in eco-design and sustainability cocooned by the surrounding jungle.

Spread out over a 900-metre stretch of the Caribbean coast, Papaya Playa Project possesses a rustic charm and offers guests a sophisticated natural luxury. As with the resort’s 85 casitas and cabañas, the new Treehouse has been ecologically built with indigenous materials and age-old Mayan construction techniques.

Placing the structure on wooden stilts transports guests to the heart of the jungle and also ensures that local flora and fauna remained untouched in the construction process, an important factor for Owner Emilio Heredia.

“Sustainability means life for future generations and integrity for the current one,” comments Heredia. “Elevating the structure encourages the growth of jungle plants around the treehouse and ensures the building does not interfere with nature. We wanted to show the utmost respect to all the wildlife living in the jungle when building the treehouse.”

The interiors of the treehouse mirror the visual identity of the resort’s other accommodation and public spaces. Locally sourced materials and recycled wood mingle with simple, no-frills furnishings, while white macramé detailing gives the structure a unique appearance.

Heredia concludes: “Our mission is to promote a holistic and spiritual life, consciously responsible with nature and with the community. We also wanted to create spaces where guests experience the beauty all around them, physically and emotionally.”

www.papayaplayaproject.com