El Cosmico

Marfa, Texas

Printed domes and vaults at dawn with a shaded canopy, desert scrub either side of a gravel path.

The printed forms silhouetted at dusk beneath a deep blue desert sky.

Bedroom within a printed vault, the curved wall showing its printed layers below a circular rooflight.

Swimming pool held inside a curved printed wall, a swimmer crossing it.

Living space inside a printed shell, curved walls and seating open to the desert.

Dining room between full-height doors, a round pendant above a timber table.

Sitting room with curved printed walls, a ceiling fan, and glazing onto the desert.

Lounge with a red sofa and fireplace set against curved printed walls.

Low printed buildings in the desert with a vehicle alongside, scrub in the foreground.

Room lit from a circular oculus above a low bed and timber furniture.

El Cosmico

Marfa, Texas

Year: 2024–
Area: 8,983 m²
Type: Hotel & residences
Client: Liz Lambert / ICON
With: BIG, ICON, Nelsen Partners, FORT, EEA, LMD
Status: In development

El Cosmico moves the Marfa campground onto 62 acres of high desert at the edge of town, and rebuilds it by printing it. The project covers roughly 8,983 m² of hotel rooms, bathhouse, pool, restaurant and a group of private residences. It broke ground in 2024 and is in construction.

Printing rewards curves and punishes corners, so the plan is built from them — domes, vaults, arches, parabolic walls. Forms that are difficult to justify in conventional construction and nearly free here. Nothing about the geometry is decorative; it follows what the machine does well.

The material comes from the ground it sits on. Printed walls take their colour from the local mix, so the buildings read closer to the caliche and scrub around them than to anything delivered to site. Mass gives the interiors the thermal depth the desert demands.