Location: Santa Ana, Costa Rica
Project Year: 2023
Area:  253m2
Photographer: Andrés Garcia Lachner

Located in San José, Costa Rica, Casa Patio is a tribute to the traditional colonial design where the houses open to the interior courtyard and the common areas surround it.  

The volumetry is created from the separation of two volumes that house the public and private program, united by a central courtyard, hence its name. Thanks to this approach, the residence manages to insert itself into the existing vegetation and explores the typology of the courtyard-house. The layout also allows the residents to inhabit the spaces with complete independence, as a perimeter corridor connects the different areas.   

The project proposes the opening at all times to the central courtyard designed with native species, the characteristic door-window present around the perimeter of the courtyard frame the view from inside the volumes, making the courtyard the soul of the house; this connection given by the large windows promotes cross ventilation in all rooms and the use of natural light. The choice of color palette and materiality make vegetation the main element in the overall composition of the house. Its white walls make the spaces better lit and this is reflected in lower electricity consumption, this added to other passive strategies such as the collection and storage of rainwater for later irrigation of the gardens and the use of local materials and labor for the design of furniture make casa patio another example of the search for sustainable architecture influenced by local vernacular architecture.  

“We like architecture to reveal itself in the unique and congruent solutions to the specific conditions of each project, and that these can contribute in terms of place, context, user and our own architectural concerns.”  

The courtyard permeates all the rooms of the house with the intention that the vegetation takes over, in search of a quiet, restorative and serene refuge.