Star trails over the Paranal Residencia, Chile

ESO Hotel at Cerro Paranal (or Residencia) is the accommodation for

Paranal Observatory Paranal Observatory is an astronomical observatory operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). It is located in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile on Cerro Paranal at altitude, south of Antofagasta. By total light-collecting area, it ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

since 2002. It is mainly used for the ESO ( European Southern Observatory) scientists and engineers who work there on a roster system. It has been called a "boarding house on Mars", because the desert surroundings are Mars-like, and an "Oasis for astronomers". It is not a commercial hotel, and the public cannot book rooms.Hotel on Mars
/ref> The architect was the Chilean-born Hernán Marchant, a current Professor and Associate Dean at North Carolina State University, the architecture firm was

Auer+Weber+Assoziierte Auer+Weber+Assoziierte is a German architecture firm, founded and headquartered in Stuttgart and Munich, Germany in 1980. The founders are Fritz Auer (born 24 June 1933), and Carlo Weber (6 April 1934-15 May 2014). History The architect's offic ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and constructor was Vial y Vives Ltda. of

. It won the Cityscape Architectural Review Awards in 2005. In 2004 it won the new and overall Leaf-Awards. Operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), an organization based in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, the VLT (

Very Large Telescope The Very Large Telescope (VLT) is a telescope facility operated by the European Southern Observatory on Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. It consists of four individual telescopes, each with a primary mirror 8.2 m acro ...

) is reportedly the most powerful

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observ ...

based on

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

Location

The hotel is located at above sea level on

Cerro Paranal Cerro Paranal is a mountain in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile and is the home of the Paranal Observatory. Prior to the construction of the observatory, the summit was a horizontal control point with an elevation of ; now it is above sea ...

. The people there work in extreme climatic conditions including intense sunlight, dryness, high wind speeds and great fluctuations in temperature. To protect against these an artificial oasis was built to allow respite between shifts. The total area is 10 000 m², with an L-shape of 176 m × 53 m. It has 4 levels, 1,000 m² of gardens, 108 rooms, and 18 offices. It includes a restaurant, music room, library, swimming pool, and sauna. Its inauguration was in February 2002.ESO Residencia Inside
The hotel complex, comprising four levels, fits into an existing depression in the ground. There are views across the desert to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

from each of the 120 rooms and also from the dining room veranda. Also visible is a slightly raised dome comprising a steel skeleton that measures in diameter. File:An Oasis for Astronomers.jpeg, The Residencia under construction at the end of 2000. File:Building the Paranal Residencia — From Turbulence to Tranquility (present day image).jpg, The ESO Hotel in 2012. File:Paranal residencia.jpg, The Garden of the Residencia in ESO Hotel File:ESO-Hotel Süd West Fassade Dämmerung.jpg, South West facade of the hotel at dusk.

In popular culture

The hotel's exterior was featured in the 2008

Bond Bond or bonds may refer to: Common meanings * Bond (finance), a type of debt security * Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States * Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemica ...

film '' Quantum of Solace'', in which the structure was depicted as a fictional eco-hotel in Bolivia. A miniature of the hotel was built by the visual effects team for the shots in which the hotel is destroyed by a fire in the film.

References

*2003 "Auer+Weber+Architekten Arbeiten 1980-2003 Works", Birkhäuser Publishers, Basel

External links

Paranal Observatory

Tour of the hotel
filmed by

Brady Haran Brady John Haran (born 18 June 1976) is an Australian-British independent filmmaker and video journalist who produces educational videos and documentary films for his YouTube channels, the most notable being ''Periodic Videos'' and '' Numbe ...

{{European Southern Observatory European Southern Observatory Buildings and structures in Antofagasta Region Auer+Weber+Assoziierte Hotels in Chile

Location

In popular culture

See also

References

External links