Architecture Firm: Studio Saxe
Location: Santa Teresa, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Date of completion: November 2020
Client: Private Residence
Area: Approx. 1000m2
Studio Saxe Design Director: Benjamin G. Saxe
Builder: Adrian y Alvarado Empresa Constructora
Structural Engineer: Sotela Alfaro LTD
Electromechanical Engineer: Dynamo Studio
Interior Design: Pauline Steenkamer Nosara Design
Photography: Andres Garcia Lachner
Landscape: Vida Design Studio

About Studio
Benjamin G. Saxe set up his own practice in San Jose, Costa Rica in 2004, with the aim of exploring our relationship with the natural environment through architecture. Since then, Studio Saxe has grown into an award-winning international practice made up of a multidisciplinary team, creating buildings and spaces by blending technological innovation with handcrafted techniques to form truly sustainable designs.

Founded on the belief that buildings must connect to their landscape – whether a tropical paradise or a concrete jungle – Studio Saxe brings a global attitude to solve local problems.

Ideas and techniques from around the world can be harnessed to benefit communities, both at home and abroad. Local traditions and identities are explored and developed, ensuring a process whereby we learn from the past and build for the future.

The dedicated architects and designers at Studio Saxe uncover new design solutions for every project, treating each building as an opportunity to improve methods and approaches, responding to specific places. Working alongside clients and collaborators, the studio continually seeks new forms and functions that blur the boundaries between natural habitats and inhabited space.

The pavilions that are raised slightly above the ground. This house included the jungle experience while also framing views of the ocean.

An open-plan living area links to the garden and boasts a neutral color palette as well as materials such as teak, stone, and Venetian plaster.

An outside dining area surrounded by magnificent trees and scenery. This arrangement allows for a live in outside connection.

A canopy bed is coupled with a patterned rug, woven chairs, and a chunky wooden table in the main bedroom. The windows are dressed with gauzy white curtains.

The master suite includes a canopy bed, and sliding glass doors allow the public space to open up completely to the backyard, which has a swimming pool and lawn.

A sleek white sofa and a live-edge wooden coffee table grace the living area.

Rather than a single large structure, this home is divided into a number of pavilions made of teak wood.

Thin roof overhangs supported by clusters of slim steel columns cover circulation zones, meticulously positioned to provide sun and rain protection.

The pavilions are arranged around a centrally located covered space with tropical flora. Sheltered walkways connect the various volumes, with a swimming pool in the center.

This house blends with nature and providing a strong connection to the landscape with coastal views.

An aerial view of the house, which is surrounded by lush vegetation and is close to the seaside.

The southeast elevation of the Sirena house.

The northwest elevation of the Sirena house.

Overview
Studio Saxe was commissioned to design a beachfront house in the beautiful town of Santa Teresa in Costa Rica. We decided to integrate the jungle experience into the house and also frame the views of the ocean whilst blending with nature.

Concept
Studio Saxe decomposed the mass of the building into a series of pavilions with overlapping roofs that create interesting circulation spaces between the volumes. By dematerializing the volumes, we integrated the home into its lush surroundings.

Design
Studio Saxe used the decomposition of volumes to house the different programs of the project. Pavilions are divided into bedrooms, living spaces, service areas, and together they create a harmony that is weaved together through circulation of indoor/outdoor spaces. This in turn allows the inhabitant to experience the intense natural surrounding every time they have to move from one place to the other.

Sustainability
The project was conceived as a decomposition of the volumes and this allowed for cross-ventilation due to the exposure of every space to at least 2 or 3 walls to the outside. The extended rooflines are carefully placed to protect from the sun and the rain through a process of bioclimatic design which analyzes the sun patterns, winds, and precipitation to create comfort without the use of energy. An array of sustainable systems such as rainwater catchment, water recycling systems, energy generation, and clever design makes this project a pioneer in sustainable tropical architecture that has passive design at its core.

Construction
Studio Saxe was interested in creating the sensation of floating rooflines, thus a series of thin columns support the roof planes in a way that they seem as they are floating A combination of steel and wood construction with concrete foundations allowed for the lightness of space, and this bleeding of boundaries between the structure and the outside.