Located six kilometers from the south of the city center in Malargüe, in the Argentinean province Mendoza, Ecohostel Malargüe shows its ecological construction. It is an incredible hostel made of sand, clay, sticks, remains of rye, wheat, barley, old wind-shields, bottles and many other natural and locally sourced materials. It is only the base of the hostel which is made of bricks and the the roof covering which is made of corrugated sheets of iron.
It was in 2006 when Johnny Albino and Gabriela Díaz decided to start construction of this eco hostel thanks to a project presented by the architect Adriana Saua. They started building this hostel with the environment in mind and it’s architectural features are to the delight of the many tourists who visit from all over the world.
“It is the first eco hostel in Argentina. I mean, we use mud to construct it, a recyclable and non-pollutant material. All of the organic things go to the animals –horses, hens, rabbits … and then we fertilize the land with the breakdown of organic material using worms. We are currently working on improving the water usage and we are studying how to use alternative energy sources”, Johnny told us.
The hostel project was made considering the natural risks of the area, like earthquakes, high winds and severe snowfalls. “It is a live construction, so the walls breathe and that is why during winter inside it is hotter and during summer it is colder than an industrial material house”, he explained. Inside the hostel, glass bottles with different colours illuminate and decorate, and some furniture is made of bales of grass redressed with mud. It took two years to fulfill Johnny and Gabriela dream.
