To open up to a place and push the boundaries of the ordinary – Studio House is a house that does this effortlessly. The building is located in Costa Rica and was designed by the Formafatal studio. The jungle house does not impose its presence, it invites you to coexist with nature. In this realisation, simplicity becomes a source of richness, giving a prominent role to what is most important here. Nature.
The house grows out of the shape of the plot: the steep slope falls in two directions, and its complexity has determined the form of the building. The massing follows the natural contours, consciously avoids the roots and allows the trees to remain part of the design. The main living space dispenses with one entire frontage of the façade, allowing the outdoor scene – jungle, air, birdsong, light – to flow freely inside. There is no passive wide window; there is a field where the resident becomes a participant in the landscape. Each room is composed to frame the sun or the stars at a certain time of day or night, making the house a continuous dialogue with its surroundings.
Open and hidden
Situated near Uvita on the Pacific coast, the building stands like a discreet monolith on a southern slope. From the roadside, it presents itself as a minimalist form with brick-paved rammed earth walls into which large sliding glazings have been inscribed. However, more than half of the building plan is taken up by terraces and a swimming pool; the upper level – which is also a covered terrace – extends towards the ocean. Passing through the living area and the kitchen, one reaches the terrace with a built-in barbecue. From here, a corten staircase descends towards the pool.
Between heaven and earth
The upper floor functions as a single, open space, the centrepiece of which is a hundred-metre-long concrete kitchen worktop. It is around this piece of furniture that domestic life takes place. The steel cupboard with laser-cut fronts turns into a light sculpture at night, casting patterns like a star-filled sky. This concept is repeated on the ground floor; the bedroom doors glow like the moon, combining reflections of real stars with their internal projections. The ground floor has a clear functional layout; in addition to the facilities, the architects designed the bedrooms and bathroom here. In the latter, a large bathtub provides a bath overlooking the ocean.
Matter and art
The building’s material palette is earth and green. Wabi-sabi is the method here: materials that have aged gracefully are treated as part of the narrative. Corten, concrete and wood interact with the tropical greenery to create interiors of raw authenticity. The architect-designed furniture is juxtaposed with iconic objects from around the world, and the choice of artworks – paintings by Josef Achrer Jr., works by Lukáš Musil and fabric abstractions by Geometr studio – emphasises the intellectual and sensual dimension of the place. The house does not pretend to be new; it reveals its history and invites you to observe how its beauty is shaped over time.
design: Formafatal
photography: BoysPlayNice
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