AL SUAVE
A dialogue between shelter and exposure, where architecture mediates privacy while drawing everyday life into the tropical landscape.
LOCATION
Santa Teresa, Cóbano.
Costa Rica
BUILT AREA
384m2
STATUS
Built
SERVICES
Architecture
SECTOR
Residential
Single-Family Home
Boutique Rental
Outside in: a seamless dialogue between tropical nature, architecture and lifestyle
Casa Al Suave is a 384 m² single-family residence designed by FAMM Architecture in Santa Teresa, Cóbano, Puntarenas, Costa Rica. The house is developed across two levels and was conceived for a local family, rooted in the community and familiar with the particular conditions of life along the Costa Rican coast.
The project is located on a steeply sloping site, covered by dense vegetation and inhabited by existing ecosystems. The position of the residence responds both to the topography and to its relationship with the neighboring properties. Toward the built edges, the architecture preserves privacy; toward the landscape, it opens to the tree canopy, the ocean, and the sunsets.
The house is organized around a timber volume elevated on a steel structure. This decision reduces direct intervention on the site and brings the main level closer to the height of the tree canopies. The elevated structure allows the first level to accommodate an independent apartment.
The first level includes an apartment composed of a bedroom, a small kitchen, and an integrated social area, as well as two balconies: one connected to the social area and another, more private one, associated with the bedroom.This same level also includes a storage room and an open-air garage.
The second level concentrates the daily life of the main residence and is organized symmetrically.Two primary bedrooms are located on either side of a central social space that integrates the kitchen, living room, and terrace.
The absence of glass enclosures between the interior and the terrace transforms this level into a continuous space, open to the air and the landscape.
Inside, pigmented concrete surfaces define built-in furniture and niches, while the timber establishes a direct reference to the traditional rustic applications of local materials.
Comfort relies primarily on passive strategies. The orientation follows the slope of the site and places the upper level within the tree canopy, where the vegetation filters wind and light. The extended roof overhangs protect the timber and habitable areas from sun and rain. The continuity between the terrace and the interior promotes cross-ventilation and reduces the need for intensive mechanical cooling. In this way, structure, envelope, and landscape function as a single comfort system.
Open living spaces, natural materials, and passive ventilation shape a relaxed approach to tropical living.
Architecturally, the house is perceived as a single suspended volume. The main steel structure, finished with green paint, contrasts with the natural timber cladding that covers the walls and ceilings.
The continuity between both materials reinforces the clarity of the construction system, while the symmetry of the whole establishes a balanced hierarchy between the private, social, and service spaces.
