Flotanta House
FLOTANTA HOUSE
Benjamin Garcia Saxe Architecture
ARCHITECTS
Benjamin Garcia Saxe Architecture
BUILDER
Dante Medri
LOCATION
Puntarenas Canton, Costa Rica
CATEGORY
Houses
AREA
300.0 sqm
PROJECT YEAR
2013
PHOTOGRAPHS
Garcia Lachner photography
CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTATION
Roger Navarro
DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
Soki So
PROJECT COORDINATOR
Daniel Sancho
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Sotela Alfaro LTD
Text description provided by architect.
The Gooden-Nahome family wanted to create a home on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica and they found an incredible site overlooking the ocean.
The biggest challenge we encountered was that their plot of land was predominantly comprised of a very steep slope, and the view of the ocean could only be seen from the upper-mid portion of the site.
Originally, we explored possibilities of creating large retaining walls and cutting back the soil in order to place the house, a technique typically employed for nearby buildings.
Ultimately, we decided to do the exact opposite and therefore allow the slope, the earth, the vegetation, water, and animals to flow underneath the house.
We essentially lifted the house up into the air on a series of piloti which gives the impression that it is floating above the hillside.
By doing this we saved the immense cost of creating soil retention walls around the site.
This common sense solution allowed us to create a very delicate intervention, one that allows the terrain to breathe whilst providing spectacular views out towards the ocean from the key location on the site.
