Marfa, TX – August 28th, 2006
El Cosmico is the latest lodging concept from Liz Lambert and her management company, Bunkhouse. Lambert is the creative force behind the popular Hotel San Jose in Austin, as well as the city’s landmark coffee house, Jo’s Hot Coffee. Lambert’s first project in Marfa, the Thunderbird Hotel, met with critical acclaim, not only for its clean, crisp aesthetic, but also for its respect for the austere West Texas landscape. Lambert has moved on, ending her business relationship with the Thunderbird Hotel in the fall of 2005. Lambert’s work has been featured in numerous magazines, newsweeklies, design books and travel shows.
Lambert’s new project, El Cosmico, is slated to break ground in Marfa, Texas, in the winter of 2006. “El Cosmico will be a Trans-Pecos kibbutz for the 21st century – part yurt and hammock hotel, part residential living, part art-house, greenhouse, amphitheatre and farmer’s market – a community space that fosters artistic and intellectual exchange.” Lambert is working with the architecture firm Lake/Flato and with Jamey Garza of Benton/Garza Design.
As part of the overall aim to build community in a creative and sustainable space, twenty to thirty renovated vintage trailers will be sold to make up a small village on the site. Owners will have the option to put their various Vagabond and Spartan trailers into a rental pool when they’re not in residence. Over time, Lambert will also add yurts, hammocks and rammed earth buildings to the property to create El Cosmico’s unconventional hotel. A large pool and pavilion will lie at the bedouin heart of the village– residents and visitors can cool off in the summer months with a swim, or warm up in the winter in wood-fired hot tubs.
El Cosmico intends to serve the community of Marfa. Lambert plans to build a series of art shacks along the road leading into the village – a silk screen workshop, a pottery studio, and a darkroom – places for both guests and locals to get their hands dirty. Lambert hopes that El Cosmico will become part of the everyday fabric of Marfa.
See it before it’s there: El Cosmico is located on Highway 67, just south of Marfa. Come help El Cosmico celebrate its groundbreaking this September 22 – 24, 2006.
