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Travel

This Puerto Rican Hotel is a Minimalist Eco-Friendly Heaven

At Hix Island House in Vieques, you can vacation beautifully without polluting the earth.
All photos courtesy of Hix Island House and Michael Grimm Photography

Made up of 19 spacious loft apartments in angular concrete buildings that rise from the lush landscape like granite boulders, Hix Island House is the antithesis of the all-inclusive resorts usually associated with Puerto Rico. Horses roam gardens tamed from the dense jungle, and trade winds drift through the open air guest rooms, which feature glassless windows, sprawling balconies, and outdoor showers.

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Architect John Hix and his wife, designer Neeva Gayle Hix moved to Vieques from Canada in the 80s and set about creating a sustainable haven in the Caribbean, a fusion between conservation and design. “I try to give our guests a contrast of experience from their mundane environment, whether it is suburbia or the center of a robust city,” John Hix tells The Creators Project.

Away from the bustling traffic and crowded beaches of San Juan, Hix Island House is located on the island of Vieques, a remote idyll home to just 9,000 people and 3,000 wild horses. I got there via prop plane, flying low enough to watch the sprawl of San Juan dissolve into lush forest hugging cerulean sea. Although it was used by the US Navy for test bombing till 2003, Vieques feels pristine, with miles of untamed, deserted beaches, and the world’s brightest bioluminescent bay.

The island’s warm climate and natural beauty makes it an ideal place for autonomous design, a sustainable building practice Hix has pursued throughout his career. Architects who adhere to the principle believe buildings should adapt to nature, not strive against it. Air conditioning is a perfect example; most buildings are sealed against the elements, consuming huge amounts of electricity to pipe in cool air. The Hix Island House, on the other hand, is powered by solar panels, collects rainwater in cisterns, heats water with the sun, and uses runoff from sinks and showers to irrigate fruit trees on the property. “We should learn that the house does not contain the machine but that the house is the machine,” proclaims Hix.

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The house is inspired by the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, which honors imperfection. “The pure modernist style, the aesthetic of Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe, cannot tolerate a crack or something showing wear,” Hix says, “whereas wabi-sabi celebrates and tolerates wear. A wood handrail that shows wear represents the historic happy use of the user.” The spacious apartments are minimalist bungalows, with built-in concrete dining tables, desks, and platform beds draped with mosquito netting.

The confluence of beauty, sustainability, and acceptance neatly sums up the allure of Hix Island House. It’s a sanctuary for city dwellers looking to relax and unplug amidst nature, without harming the earth. Hix says, “I thought it would be great to concentrate on one area and put my energy into a place that would represent how one should build in the Caribbean.”

Click here to learn more about Hix Island House.

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