Project Description

A. Design Brief and considerations of the site

This was a very particular project due to the clients it was being built for.  The property had been purchased by two brothers and their wives, and the idea was to create a Luxury Vacation Home for both couples.  

They had agreed between them that all project decisions were to be made via a majority vote, so the overall design process and evaluation was at all times committee-based, even though the project was a private residence.

The clients wanted to have a home that featured lots of outdoor space, both for use as living spaces as well as terraces, balconies, etc., to enjoy the view from different vantage points.  They also required the main interior living space to be situated to take advantage of the best view, and to be somehow elevated in order to gain a better view and to allow to look over the tree line below, located down the golf course.

The home had to feature a main master bedroom that would serve both couples, with a large walk-in closet for both, plus an additional closet for use when the home was rented.  Also required were a guest master bedroom, two additional guest bedrooms, and a studio that could be converted into an additional guest bedroom or a service bedroom was requested.

Another request from the owners is that they wanted the home to have an indoor-outdoor feel to it, but they wanted the entire home to be fully air-conditioned.  As they understood the need for the different structures, they expressed they wanted to be able to walk from one end of the home to the other while being inside air conditioned space.  They had visited other vacation homes where they needed to walk from indoors to outdoors and back to indoors to say, go from a bedroom to the kitchen and they did not like that.

The clients had also sent a book full of magazine clippings showing the elements that they thought they liked for the home.  We were instructed to make use of that book as an initial inspiration on the home and to be able to somehow integrate the common feel that we could determine from that book.

In order to work with the terrain, which not only was very irregular in shape but also had varying slopes in different places, we decided that the home needed to be broken up into several main structures which would work into different parts of the terrain, and would have articulation or connection structures which then would also serve as places where there would be changes in floor levels, so the structure would work with the land.

During the design, working with the client’s inspiration book proved challenging, since it was evident that four clear different tastes were present in the book, although they had not realized this.  Even though this was the case it was possible to find several themes as common denominators which were used into a first design proposal for them.

The interesting part is that once the first design proposal was completed, and reviewed by the group their first general comment was that “...we acknowledge how you have been able to work with the instructions that we gave you, and we recognize how elements have been used to create a theme and style for the home, and it doesn’t feel in any way as a grouping of clippings or ideas.”

Their next comment was: “Even though this is the case, as a group we don’t like the result of what we asked for.  We don’t know what we should do, since it is clear that our instructions resulted in a design we don’t like.  We want to then allow you to propose a design that you think will work for this site and with the requirements we need for this home.”

During the process we also realized that due to the shape of the lot’s building envelope, parts of the home were going to be extremely close to the road, which from where this property is located then goes sharply downhill (with the accompanying engine noise from cars and trucks).  This is especially the case in the western end of the lot, where the shape is of a spear, and this was also the place of the best view from the lot, which we wanted to maximize by location the social area there.  Special attention was needed in this area.

B. Location

The home was divided then into 3 main structures.  The first would house the living spaces, kitchen and TV den, a second structure would house the master bedroom suite and an outdoor living room below it, completely shaded by the structure above, and the third structure would feature the guest rooms below, with guest master bedroom above.  Then the 2-car garage and laundry space would be located in the area where there would be no real view out, blocked by feature trees below that were right outside of the property but its tree canopy elevated enough to block the view from these higher places in the property.

The lot is located directly adjoining the golf course, more specifically the 17th-Hole Tee, which is directly located to the west of the property.  We also took this into consideration on the location and elevation of the living areas on this area of the property, to allow the owners to have external terrace spaces to enjoy the view down the golf course and out to the ocean, and allow some visual interaction with the golfers below, but at the same time not having them feel they are interfering with the game.  The entire living space was elevated above ground, which allowed to house some of the needed mechanical space directly below, and a “Tee Terrace” was designed in this same elevation which gives the owners a vantage point of view to the golf course.

The property is located in somewhat of a natural basin, where several natural slopes around the property converge on this specific area.  Considering our extremely tropical location and very harsh weather characteristics, one important detail we always take into account is the accumulation of moisture, and to impair mold growth.  This is especially important given that this is a vacation home, which will be closed up a considerable amount of time, and we want it to be liveable and enjoyable when the owners come to the house.

Given this lot’s basin-like location, we then also designed all structures to be elevated off the ground, so that subterranean moisture would not be right against walls of living spaces, but so that all of those walls were at least somewhat above ground.

In response to the client’s request of making use of the best view areas on the lot for the location of the living areas of the house, this was located in the westernmost area, a very tight space with a wedge-like shape, and which brought the location of the living areas very close to the road.  A very closed facade was then designed along the road, to allow privacy for the home, as well as an extended privacy wall behind the location of a terrace that was intended to allow lounging and view to the 17th Tee of the Golf Course directly below.

The pool was designed as a converging area of all the structures around.  All of the spaces either have walking access or visual connection to the pool, which then featured a water mirror area that surrounds the outdoor living space and where the support columns of the upper structure would fall inside the water in this water mirror area.

The structure of the guest bedrooms and guest master bedroom above was then located to balance out the design on the eastern side of the property, and located at an elevation where they could have a view out to the ocean below the tree canopies of two huge trees located right outside the property.  The large tree trunks allowed to have a very different view character out from those bedrooms, looking through the trunks and right below the dense foliage of the trees.

Then the more service-oriented spaces of the laundry, storage, and garage were located right to the north of the bedrooms structure, and connected with the same roof, which then allowed to have a sort of closure to the design on the east side, and create a small central space for a small motorcourt which is the access to the home.  This space then leads to an external staircase between some large cube-like planters that goes down to the main access to the home.  This motorcourt space also needed to be elevated off the ground, to allow for proper entry with a vehicle into the garage, and therefore the space below was used to house potable and irrigation tanks, and other mechanical areas, and allowed to create a buffer space in the middle, open to outdoors, but completely out of view which was used to locate the HVAC condensers for almost all the home.

C. Environmental, Use of Renewable Energy

The orientation of the structures on the lot and location of the main glass surfaces were all directed south, where the angle of the sun into the structure is reduced.  Main bedrooms feature large balconies directly outside them which serve to have extensive overhangs to protect from solar radiation into the inside spaces.

The main living room structure is the one a bit more exposed, since it featured a western-facing glass facade and  14.5-foot high glass facade to the south.  To compensate for this, the roof of this room was designed with an extra-wide overhang to protect the upper windows, and a sun-shading horizontal trellis designed to exist at the location of a structural beam between the upper glass and lower sliding doors, cantilevering out and hung from stainless cables from the stone columns.  This helps control the intrusion of solar radiation into the room.

The air conditioning system selected for the home featured high-efficiency SEER 17 units which were then fitted with Wi-Fi enabled highly programmable and customizable thermostats that are internet accessible for remote monitoring, access and control.  This has allowed the owners to more accurately and fully understand the conditions and behavior of the home from thousands of miles away, in Illinois, USA.

To further reduce the solar radiation into the conditioned spaces, then all glass surfaces on windows and sliding doors to these spaces were done using double-pane argon-filled glass mounted on PVC extrusion frames from european brand Deceuninck.

One other sustainability aspect of this home is that due to its elevated design off the ground, earth moving in the site was minimal.  Only foundation trenches needed to be dug, which were then mostly filled back up with the same soil excavated, and the soil from other excavation areas were easily redistributed inside the same property or used for fill under some of the elevated structures such as the driveway, etc.  The entire home was built without a single cubic yard of soil being excavated out of the property or hauled using any type of mechanical equipment.

Of special note on this project would be the internet-enabled Wi-Fi connected thermostats that control the air conditioning system.  These devices, which allow remote browser-based monitoring and control provide historical data of temperatures, humidity levels, and energy consumption, allowing the owner a very granular understanding and control of the system.

This is especially important in our location, since the single biggest consumer of energy in these vacation homes is the air conditioning system.  Due to our extremely high relative humidity levels, it is usually recommended that these homes keep the air conditioning system operating even though at a high temperature, in order to keep the moisture levels inside the home under control.  Therefore these systems are a huge consumer even when the home is closed up for long periods of time.  Having the ability to fully understand the needs and conditions of the home throughout the year, and programming the system to respond to that then allows the owner full control and decisions over how much they want to spend on energy and what is the direct benefit of those decisions on the home.

D. Appearance & Finish

The main materials used on the exterior of the home are as follows:

• Exterior solid walls in two complementing earth tones, one a darker brown to resemble the natural color of the ground in that part of Guanacaste, and another lighter taupe color.  The darker tone was used as accent on certain surfaces and on elements that we wanted to visually hide, and the lighter tone used for larger wall surfaces.
• Roof surfaces were all done in a dark brown clay tile, with natural wood for the roof fascias
• Solid wood roof structure and supports in some of the areas of the home built in glue-laminated FSC-Certified solid teak wood.
• The shading pergola built in steel to allow a thin profile, invisible from inside the room, painted in a dark brown tone same as the overhangs and fascias, enhances the transparency element of its design.
• All exterior vertical columns were used as a design theme, clad in a local stone called "Laja Gris Oxidada", or Gray Rusted Slate, which features a combination of natural colors from grays to browns, and which was approved by the development's design review board.
• Exterior stone garden walls are simple gravity walls, where stone is put together with mortar and hidden reinforcing bars inside them.  The stone used for this was a grayish stone that came from the excavation of this construction.
• All railings were custom done in steel and finished in a dark almost-black patina to maximize transparency through them out to the view.

E. Environmentally friendly and/or sustainable construction materials used.

• All of the exposed wood as well as the construction wood used in the project was purchased from vendors of The Forest Stewardship (FSC)-Certified wood from renewable forests.
• All of the limestone flooring in the home is extracted from a local quarry located in an area called Nicoya, which is located in the same region as the project’s location.  This is the only such quarry that produces limestone or marble in all of Central America.   Many variations of this same stone material was used throughout the home, for example in polished form for interior spaces, random natural cut for anti-slip exterior terraces and balconies, saw-cut slabs used for exterior in-the-rain staircases, ashlar pattern in honed finish for the covered outdoor living area, rough-cut strips for interior accents in some showers, etc.
• The bedrooms feature prefinished solid bamboo flooring also purchased from vendors of The Forest Stewardship (FSC)-Certified wood from renewable forests.
• The stone used was a grayish local type of slate stone called "Laja Gris Oxidada". It is extracted and manufactured within the region, thereby supporting the use of indigenous resources and reducing the environmental impacts resulting from transportation.
• We tried to used finishes, carpets, floors and other materials for interiors with low Volatile organic compound (VOC), and without chemical content.
• All of the paint and plaster finishes on walls have been selected from local manufacturers whose products comply with LEED Certification VOC-free products.