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Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination.

Gardenia Apartments in San Jose, Costa Rica by Studio Saxe

 
April 26th, 2022 by Sumit Singhal

Article source: Studio Saxe

Overview

Studio Saxe decided to design and develop its first vertical sustainable building, proving that it is financially viable to create an architecture of value focused on quality of life through large terraces and planting, within the constraints of the local economy.

Image Courtesy © Elias Porras

  • Architects: Studio Saxe
  • Project: Gardenia Apartments
  • Location: San Jose, Costa Rica
  • Photography: Andres Garcia Lachner, Elias Porras, Alessandra Tanzi
  • Client: Saxe Development Group
  • Area: Approx. 5544m2
  • Studio Saxe Design Director: Benjamin G. Saxe
  • Builder: Prodeyco
  • Structural Engineer: Sotela Alfaro LTD
  • Electromechanical Engineer: CIEM
  • Interior Design: Saxe Interior Design
  • Landscape: Saxe Landscape
  • Date of completion: May 2021

Image Courtesy © Elias Porras

Concept

Studio Saxe’s first vertical development was conceptualized as an opportunity to bring the typical garden to vertical construction, increasing the quality of life for inhabitants in built-up cities in the tropics. Automated irrigation systems allow for vegetation to thrive on terraces creating a sensation of indoor-outdoor living.

Image Courtesy © Elias Porras

Image Courtesy © Andres Garcia Lachner

Design

By creating distinct terraces on every level, the building gives personality to each dwelling, allowing for every apartment even when the interior layout is the same to have a diverse and interesting relationship to the outside through terraces that move from side to side. This allows not only privacy to the street but also protection from the sun and rain.

Image Courtesy © Andres Garcia Lachner

Image Courtesy © Andres Garcia Lachner

Construction

Gardenia was conceived as a concrete structure that utilized prefabricated techniques, giving the ability to be assembled quickly on-site thus allowing for the cost of the units to remain within a reasonable market value. This confirmed it’s possible to have large terraces, vegetation, parasols, and many other technologies within a specific market thus bringing the perception of the possible buyers to a new standard.

Image Courtesy © Andres Garcia Lachner

Image Courtesy © Elias Porras

Landscape

Studio Saxe’s landscape design was key in order to create a building that not only brings the wildness of the natural landscape to the city but incorporates passive technologies such as water harvesting and other strategies like irrigation, plant control, and plant biology. This created a true echo system with a diverse variety of plants that allow for birds and threatened species such as bees to be part of the building’s natural environment to establish a harmonious coexistence with humans.

Image Courtesy © Alessandra Tanzi

Image Courtesy © Alessandra Tanzi

Interior Design

Studio Saxe’s interior design department coordinated all materials, kitchen design, bathroom design, living and communal spaces to be cohesive with the architectural theme of an urban tropical glamorous development. This sustainable and bioclimatic design allowed for the cohesion of materials and colors inside-out that created a harmonious building that seems to be designed by and for people with like-minded interests.

Image Courtesy © Andres Garcia Lachner

Image Courtesy © Andres Garcia Lachner

Sustainability

Gardenia was conceived through passive design strategies like temperature control allowing cross ventilation to happen throughout each apartment thus not having corridors between units. Large terraces protect from the blazing sun at certain times of the day which are combined with parasols that also allow fractured light to seep through and provide temperature control. Vegetation on every terrace allows for materials to cool down quickly. The plants within the building are irrigated through special filters that collect rain and recycled water used by the dwellers to create a self-sustaining cycle. The common area is located on the second floor which has an orchard with edible plants that the dwellers can collect for personal consumption.

Image Courtesy © Andres Garcia Lachner

Image Courtesy © Andres Garcia Lachner

Image Courtesy © Andres Garcia Lachner

Image Courtesy © Alessandra Tanzi

Image Courtesy © Andres Garcia Lachner

Image Courtesy © Andres Garcia Lachner

Image Courtesy © Andres Garcia Lachner

Image Courtesy © Andres Garcia Lachner

Image Courtesy © Andres Garcia Lachner

Image Courtesy © Andres Garcia Lachner

Image Courtesy © Andres Garcia Lachner

Image Courtesy © Elias Porras

Image Courtesy © Elias Porras

Image Courtesy © Elias Porras

Image Courtesy © Elias Porras

Image Courtesy © Studio Saxe

Image Courtesy © Studio Saxe

Image Courtesy © Studio Saxe

Image Courtesy © Studio Saxe

Image Courtesy © Studio Saxe

Image Courtesy © Studio Saxe

Image Courtesy © Studio Saxe

Contact Studio Saxe

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Categories: Apartments, Building, House, Housing Development, Residential




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