When Robert Day, CEO of Oakmont Corporation, teamed up with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts for a new project on Cabo Del Sol in Cabo San Lucas, he turned to architect Robert Glazier for a specific kind of design.

Glazier had come out on top in a competition for Day’s new Four Seasons Resort and Hotel on the Los Cabos Corridor, between Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo.

Day asked Glazier for a design inspired by the One&Only Palmilla – one of Cabo’s most luxurious resort.

“He asked for something similar and didn’t know I’d done it,” the architect says.

The developer also wanted something a little more historically correct for his 80-key resort with 40 private residences. “He wanted it to be inspired by the architecture of Mexico,” he says. “He is not a fan of modern architecture.”

So the architect created a tradition-influenced entry, with suites that are more relaxed, design-wise. “They had to be more about the beach and the ocean and the view than the architecture,” he says. “They’re more about the environment – and much lighter.”

His material palette here is simplicity itself: Hand-steel-troweled plaster for the walls, clay tile for the roofs, and steel for windows and doors.

Glazier calls the site the one of the best he’s ever worked on. “It’s not above the beach – it’s on the beach, so I could actually extend the beach into the project,” he says. “All guest rooms have ocean views, even the ones pushed back a bit to make a crescent.

While the entry is two stories, the resort and residences on the ocean side vary in height. One-story, 700-square-foot guest rooms are mixed in with residential rentals that are two-stories, and a few that are three. “We maximized the number of units,” he says. “And we’re actually bringing the sand back in, so everyone feel like they’re on the beach.”

Overall, he kept the scale low. “It’s nice to be on the beach with a low scale building,” he says. “The proportions and fenestration are historically inspired, and on the beach side it’s much more open.”

As for context, on the entry side there’s a golf course. To the south, a hacienda-influenced project is being renovated. “Then there’s the ocean,” he says. “Right next to the hotel are single-family homes.”

And there, his client paid his architect the ultimate compliment:

He asked him to design his new home there.

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