Naia One | Santa Teresa, Puntarenas

Overview

Grupo BIM was commissioned to design two beach houses in the beautiful town of Santa Teresa, Costa Rica. We decided to blend the rainforest with the houses, while creating bioclimatic comfort for people to enjoy the outdoor experience.

Concept

Naia One A single-storey house blocks the street and opens onto an interior garden with a swimming pool that creates leisure spaces within the play of light from the roof lines and trees.

Design

By creating an identifiable roofline, we were able to use it throughout both homes to create an architectural language that could be used on both a larger and smaller scale. Teak screens and patterns are used throughout the home to create diffused sunlight and protect from rain and the elements. The layout is comprised of light-framed living areas and solid private bedrooms.

Construction

The main living spaces are made up of lightweight steel structures housing open spaces that welcome nature inside, with long steel rooflines and teak decks with screens also made from reforested teak wood. The bedrooms, meanwhile, are made from concrete blocks, making them a much more closed and independent construction from the main steel structure, which acts as a kind of Lego that can be assembled to make a large or small house.