Our clients from Canada were looking to get away from the winter season and enjoy the tropical weather so were very clear in wanting to create an oasis that blends indoors and outdoors.
Our common goal of respecting the existing trees and a natural creek the property had was a must. This would generate a family dynamic that will be both fun and healthy.
This project is the very first “rammed earth” implementation in Costa Rica. We completely used clay soil from the excavations for the construction of all perimeter bearing walls.
Near Uvita town, on a plot of 11,000 square meters at a height of 300 m above the sea, I designed two small villas on a hill overgrown with a jungle. Both villas, partly levitating above the steep southern slope, are designed for short-term recreational rentals. The built-up area of each of them is 90 m2.
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.
Article source: YUSO – Arq. José Antonio (Toño) Salas
Located in San Jose de Costa Rica, HOUSE OF HOUSES is a project developed by YUSO together with an extraordinary family: a US-American professor and single mother, her daughter and son who only live at home a few days per week as they spend the remaining time with their other mother and father, and their grandfather, who has an active and independent life.
Charred Timber House frames views of the Pacific Ocean in Costa Rica
Studio Saxe was commissioned to design a family home perched on the hilltops of the town of Nosara Costa Rica, that would blend and hide within its natural surroundings whilst opening to the dramatic ocean and mountain views.
Norte Sur Architects presents a vibrant bioclimatic structure that is home to the ACIB (Costa Rican Biomedical Research Agency), a non-profit organization dedicated to biomedical research and genomic sequencing for cancer prevention and treatment. It is located in the province of Guanacaste, Costa Rica and its design has been carried out under high standards of sustainability and carbon footprint reduction.
In order to create a resilient structure, adaptable to the dry tropical climate of the area, Norte Sur Architects was set out to rethink and reinvent the rigid and monotonous image associated with the highly controlled conditions required by a biomedical laboratory. Located within a few miles from the beautiful beaches of the Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, the final result is a colorful and vibrant set consisting of a combination of lightweight construction systems that allow the building to respond to the elements with a low carbon footprint.
Costa Rica Athletic Center creates small village amongst tree tops.
As an extension to the Gilded Iguana Hotel in the town of Nosara, The Athletic Center was designed as a small village amongst the trees that creates a public space which integrates locals with visitors with similar interests of pursuing an active lifestyle and wellbeing.
The site is situated in an incredibly central location acts as a perfect “adhesive” for retail, sports, and leisure which in turn coexist within the exuberant nature. A surf-shop, bike-shop, gym, and multiple studios for Jiu Jitsu, yoga, and personal massages create the perfect atmosphere for those wishing to come to Costa Rica in search of activity and fun.
The sloped topography of this site inspired the main concept of the house, to generate different perspectives and realities along the different levels of the building.
All these spaces have a view of the Tamarindo Bay and are joined by a common triple height space with a bridge that connects to the rooms.
The first floor social areas of the house have a natural concrete finish that grounds the structure to the topography and defines two main levels that split the house in two overlapping spaces.
The second level light metal structure and siding exterior finish resemble natural wooden materiality creating relationship with the canopies of the trees.
There is a well-known saying that echoes throughout Costa Rica: “Pura Vida.” Locals use the term for everything from greeting one another ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’, to saying that ‘everything is great.’ However, the expression is about more than words. It’s an emotion, it’s an attitude, it’s happiness, and it’s a way of life. And so, to truly be successful, the region’s largest new commercial development needed not just to attract visitors, but it needed to fully capture Pura Vida.
The project – Oxígeno – delivers a new concept of a Human Playground that bridges retail, entertainment, sports, culture, education and gastronomy. More than just a shopping center or lifestyle center, Oxígeno is a dynamic extension of the local community. Part of a multi-phase mixed-use development, this first phase includes 45,000m2 GLA of retail space and more than 15,000m2 of green areas designed around the way residents live, work, and play. Beyond mere commercial offerings, Oxígeno embraces the existing community with ample green areas opened to the public, a jogging trail, and improvements to the public transportation infrastructure including the donation of a train station, constructions of a boulevard connecting two highways, and the widening of front rows to facilitate the operation of public buses. Since its opening in November, Oxígeno has received more than 1.5 million visitors.
Qalma is a vertical condominium which is developed in a reduced footprint, leaving a large percentage of green area, respecting the existing wooded area in the property and conserving 90% of all the trees grown on the site.
A fundamental issue in the conceptualization of the project is the definition and interpretation of biophilia implemented in a vertical tower of apartments; inhabiting a space and in this case in particular a vertical condominium, must be resolved to meet the needs of its inhabitants, the priority is to improve the quality of life of those who inhabit the architecture, this can be achieved by integrating nature within the apartments and within common areas; A first approach to achieve this is by enabling common areas with privileged locations within the tower, in this way we can integrate the experience not only inside apartments but also outside them, the common areas are located in the last three levels of the tower, creating experiential relationships in height, another implemented method was to bring nature within the verticality of the project and inscribe it around the perimeter of the tower, the idea is to create a natural environment in height.
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