Stargazing Villa Design: Why It's Built as Three Connected Structures

Guests who book a Stargazing Villa at Kosmos often assume they're reserving one building. They're actually reserving three — a living space, a bedroom, and a stargazing spa dome, connected into a single stay. That Stargazing Villa design wasn't an aesthetic flourish; it took six versions and a visionary architect to get there.

Quick answer: Every Stargazing Villa at Kosmos Stargazing Resort & Spa is built as three connected structures — a living dome, a bedroom, and a stargazing spa dome with a private jacuzzi — rather than one enclosed building. The design, by architects Katia Jadue and Najwa Zalaquett of NZ Studio, separates the villa's functions into distinct domed spaces linked by covered walkways, so every room keeps its own sightline to the sky.

• Three connected structures: a living dome, a bedroom, and a stargazing spa dome with a private jacuzzi
• Designed by architects Katia Jadue and Najwa Zalaquett of NZ Studio
• Built from hempcrete — a breathable, low-carbon wall material favored by sustainable architects
• Reached its current form after six design versions: wooden structure → shipping containers → Microhaus sleep capsule → expanded two-dome version → three connected structures → final architecture
• Each villa includes a Celestron Origin and a 10-inch Celestron Dobsonian telescope
• Part of Kosmos Stargazing Resort & Spa — Colorado's first DarkSky Approved Lodging property, under Bortle Class 2 skies in the San Luis Valley

What are the three structures in a Kosmos Stargazing Villa?

Walk up to a Stargazing Villa and you don't see a single roofline — you see three distinct domed forms joined together. Each one has a job:

The living dome is the villa's gathering space: a loft-style room built for sitting up late, with a kitchenette, a dining and lounge area, and enough glass to turn the ceiling into a second sky. The bedroom structure sits between the other two, oriented so the bed itself has a clear line to the stars. The stargazing spa dome is the most distinctive of the three — a private, domed room built around a jacuzzi, designed so a guest can soak in warm water while looking straight up at Bortle Class 2 darkness. Covered walkways tie the three together, so the villa reads as one stay even though it's built as three separate volumes.

That three-part layout is also the reason Kosmos can call itself "Kosmos Stargazing Resort & Spa" without overstating what exists on the ground today. There is no standalone spa building, no treatment menu, and no spa staff — the "& Spa" in the name is earned by the fact that every Stargazing Villa already contains a stargazing spa dome with its own private jacuzzi, not by a resort-wide spa facility, which remains a later-phase addition.

Why build a villa as three separate domes instead of one building?

The honest answer is that Kosmos's founder didn't set out to build three structures — he set out to solve one problem, badly, five times, before the sixth attempt worked. Early versions of the Stargazing Villa tried to put every function (sleeping, living, bathing) inside one enclosed shell, which meant trading sky exposure for enclosure in every room except the one with a skylight. Splitting the program into separate domed structures — each with its own glazing and orientation — let every space get its own uninterrupted view, instead of making one room's windows do all the work.

There's a practical case for it too. Building in three discrete volumes, rather than one large structure, let Kosmos use local hempcrete construction at a scale local builders could actually take on, rather than importing large modular units. Hempcrete — a bio-composite of hemp hurd and a lime-based binder — gives each dome breathable, well-insulated walls with a comparatively low carbon footprint, which matters for a property that runs 100% off-grid (Hempitecture). Three smaller domes were also simpler to connect with covered walkways than one oversized structure would have been to frame and seal.

How did the Stargazing Villa design evolve to three connected structures?

The three-dome layout guests see today is the end of a longer design process, not the starting point. Kosmos's founder and team worked through six distinct versions of the Stargazing Villa before landing on this architecture: a first attempt at a simple wooden structure that proved too expensive and hard to source locally; a pivot toward modular shipping-container construction that ran into the same sourcing problem from a different angle; the introduction of a compact 120-square-foot Microhaus sleep capsule that finally solved the construction question; an expansion that added square footage and introduced the first two domes; the version that connected all three structures with covered walkways and expanded the living dome into its current loft-kitchen-and-lounge layout; and a sixth and final pass that folded every lesson from the first five into the architecture guests experience now.

We've documented that full six-version evolution, image by image, in our earlier look at the Stargazing Villa's architectural design evolution — worth a read if you want to see the wooden-structure and shipping-container versions that never got built.

Who designed the Kosmos Stargazing Villa?

The final, three-structure architecture is the work of architects Katia Jadue and Najwa Zalaquett of NZ Studio, who took the villa from its early, less practical concepts to the connected-dome design built on site today.

What's inside the stargazing spa dome, specifically?

This is the structure guests ask about most, so it's worth being precise about what it is and isn't. The stargazing spa dome is a domed architectural space containing a private jacuzzi, built so that the dome's glazing frames the sky directly above the water. It is not a spa facility in the hospitality sense — there's no therapist on staff, no treatment menu, and no separate spa building on the property. What exists is architectural: one private soaking space per villa, under a clear dome, under some of the darkest skies the DarkSky International certification program recognizes. A resort-scale spa and gym are part of Kosmos's planned Phase 2 build-out, alongside the Galaxy Villa and a dedicated Stargazing Park — none of that is open today.

What else comes with the villa's design?

Each Stargazing Villa's living dome includes a Celestron Origin smart telescope and a 10-inch Celestron Dobsonian, so the astronomy side of a stay doesn't depend on packing your own gear. Kosmos Stargazing Resort & Spa is a sustainable, 100% off-grid stargazing resort in Mosca, Colorado, roughly 18 minutes from the entrance of Great Sand Dunes National Park, sitting at 7,600 feet under Bortle Class 2 skies in the San Luis Valley — and in April 2026 it became Colorado's first DarkSky Approved Lodging property, a certification from DarkSky International that requires measured sky darkness, a lightscape management plan, and ongoing night-sky education for staff and guests. The villa's three-structure design — oriented domes, minimal interior light spill, dark-friendly exterior fixtures — is part of how that certification gets maintained night after night, not just at the time of the audit.

Frequently asked questions

Why is the Kosmos Stargazing Villa built as three separate structures instead of one building?
Splitting the villa into a living dome, a bedroom, and a stargazing spa dome let every space get its own sky-facing glazing and orientation, rather than concentrating all the views in one room. It also let the design use smaller, locally buildable hempcrete volumes instead of one oversized structure.

What are the three structures inside a Stargazing Villa?
A living dome with a kitchenette, dining, and lounge area; a bedroom structure between the other two; and a stargazing spa dome built around a private jacuzzi, all linked by covered walkways.

Who designed the Stargazing Villa's architecture?
Architects Katia Jadue and Najwa Zalaquett of NZ Studio designed the final three-structure villa, after six total design versions.

Is the "stargazing spa dome" an actual spa with treatments?
No. It's an architectural space with a private jacuzzi under a domed, sky-facing ceiling. Kosmos doesn't operate a standalone spa facility or spa treatments today; a resort-scale spa and gym are part of the planned Phase 2 build.

How many design versions did the Stargazing Villa go through?
Six. The first was a wooden structure, followed by a shipping-container version, a Microhaus sleep capsule, a larger version that introduced two domes, a version connecting all three structures, and the final architecture built today.

What telescopes come with each villa?
A Celestron Origin smart telescope and a 10-inch Celestron Dobsonian, both housed in the villa's living dome.

What is the villa built from?
Hempcrete — a hemp-and-lime building material known for breathable, well-insulated walls — supports Kosmos's off-grid, sustainability-focused construction approach.

Can I see the three-structure design in person?
Yes — Kosmos's three open Stargazing Villas are available to book now under Bortle Class 2 skies in Colorado's San Luis Valley.

Key takeaways

• Every Kosmos Stargazing Villa is built as three connected structures — a living dome, a bedroom, and a stargazing spa dome with a private jacuzzi — not one enclosed building.
• The design is the sixth and final version of the villa, following a wooden structure, a shipping-container version, and a Microhaus sleep capsule.
• Architects Katia Jadue and Najwa Zalaquett of NZ Studio designed the final architecture.
• The "stargazing spa dome" is an architectural feature with a private jacuzzi — not a spa facility with treatments, which remains a later-phase plan.
• Hempcrete construction and the domes' orientation support both the villa's off-grid design and its DarkSky Approved Lodging certification.

See the three-structure design for yourself

Photos only go so far with a layout like this. Book a Stargazing Villa and spend a night moving between its living dome, bedroom, and stargazing spa dome under Bortle Class 2 skies.

Sources

DarkSky International, DarkSky Approved Lodging program guidelines; Hempitecture, on hempcrete as a building material.