Location: Santa Teresa, Puntarenas, Costa Rica 
Year: 2019
Area: 295 m2

Mendi House is a duplex block located in Santa Teresa, one of the most developed beach towns in Costa Rica’s central pacific coast. The area has become a popular destination for foreign and local visitors, making it a hotspot for tourism year-round.  

The site has a sloping topography and the only access point is located in the uppermost part of the terrain. It adjoins a residential lot in the northern side of the property and offers ocean views to the west. The surrounding area is mostly covered in vegetation with the exception of a few neighboring houses.

The project seeks to bridge the gap between interior and exterior. Compact apartment layouts are coupled with courtyards in the bathrooms, allowing natural light to fill the space and cross ventilation to occur. All apartments face west towards the ocean view and have kitchenette and dining areas in exterior spaces. These are set in overhangs for the upper level apartments and on terraces for the lower level ones.

The material palette includes painted and exposed concrete, corten steel, wooden louvers and interiors, and glass. Each duplex has a pool, exterior showers, laundry and storage areas, and separate accesses for each apartment.