Lunah, a dream come true
Horacio Peña and Pablo Luna are two brilliant minds whose passion for sustainable materials and spaces brought them together in an unprecedented project.
Imagine a place where one can live, travel, work, and study. A place where nature reigns and is respected accordingly. This project has a name, and it’s called Lunah.
▀ Lunah sounds like paradise. To grasp this replicable model, we spoke with its creator, Horacio Peña, a restless Mexican, an ardent artist, and a natural-born entrepreneur. He currently resides in Tulum but considers himself a global citizen.
In the spirit of collaboration that defines his projects, another genius, Pablo Luna, joined us for this exclusive interview, all the way from Bali.
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It’s challenging to condense over an hour of rich conversation into a few words, but let’s give it a try. Let’s start with Horacio. He was born in Acapulco and became interested in technology at the age of 6.
At 16, he founded his own business, which became so successful that he could retire at the age of 28. He retreated to the forest, dedicating his time to music, yoga, and meditation.
▀ However, the tranquility began to unsettle him, leading him to establish a real estate company at the age of 32. From the silence of nature to the concrete jungle, overseeing over 200 employees.
He admits feeling overwhelmed and eventually went to Tulum, seeking spiritual peace. Along the way, he learned many things, including what he didn’t want to do.
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And so, one day, out of nowhere, the idea of Lunah was born on one of the properties Horacio had acquired. He envisioned “a magical and disruptive place, a hotel designed in the way we now want to travel—introspectively—after many people had to rethink their lives”.
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And he added: “I thought of a participatory, fair, and equitable model where we would combine people’s efforts to achieve these kinds of projects. These projects are highly profitable by nature, but due to their regenerative philosophy, they would have a positive balance for everyone involved”.
Lunah blends bioconstruction, bioclimatic design, and the integration of organic elements.
“That’s where I found Pablo,” he narrates. “It’s about respecting the space we are living in. In our countries, it’s becoming a trend, but there are those who do it naturally, like in Indonesia”.
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Pablo, on the other hand, is an architect, artist, and designer. He was born in Chile, but he has Peruvian-Lebanese heritage flowing through his veins.
He studied architecture in New York and lives in Bali, where he understood the power of designing and working with bamboo.
“I have always believed that the spaces we create define the way we live. That has kept me on this path until today. Here, I learned the importance of a space that generates emotions, that invites creativity, where hierarchies are broken”, he reflected.
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For the past seven years, Pablo has had his own studio. At the beginning, his constructions screamed for attention, until he later understood the responsibility he held in his hands.
“Architecture plays a role as important as education. It implies that one goes to a place and comes out different. Spaces that tell stories. There is so much beauty and wisdom in nature. That’s where my designs come from, and also the technologies we are implementing.”.
The visions of Horacio and Pablo are similar: their creations are not only beautiful, but they also respond to a system of energy efficiency, with long-term maintenance and integration into culture.
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For now, Lunah is already in operation in Tulum and Valle de Bravo, but there are several projects on the way.
Horacio is aware that the challenge is to be consistent with these kinds of dreams, which undoubtedly go beyond the norm.
“In a plot where any developer would create 40 units, we make 7, that’s the density level we have. We only cut branches, not trees”.
“We’ve seen that the world can change from one day to another. We’re trying, then, to find more answers. This resonated greatly with this project and is part of its value. We’re open to showing others how to do something like this in other places,” concluded Horacio”, Horacio concluded.
