The Project is located at Manuel Antonio rainforest in central pacific of Costa Rica. For the construction of this Project, it wasn’t handed to cut any tree, as the property had a clear area, which was utilized for the construction of the Project.
Concept and Objectives
This Project follows a tropical contemporary style and was designed with the main concept of “Integration with landscape and nature with the minimization of environmental impact following bioclimatic and sustainable strategies”.
The lines and shapes of the house designed is always looking to be integrated with nature thru a roof designs that resembles the tree Canopy, the steel structure designed that disappears as tree branches, and curved exterior terraces and pools that goes inside nature in the form of radiation. “You Start the path to the house at the height of the roots and finish it at the Canopy height
In the Project MC1, the use of natural resources was done responsibly to lower the direct impact, Integrating and using the climate, reducing the water and energy consumption, furthermore, durable materials were chosen, having always in mind the chance of recycling and reusing them, mainly when a possible future extraction is taken into consideration in a long term.
The design of the Project resembles the vernacular architecture of the area inherited by the United Fruit Company in the 1900’s, which has as a main characteristic the use of bioclimatic buildings and have influenced strongly the architecture in the area. As main characteristics of this architecture, the buildings use the winds and natural lights to create the different ambiences and temperatures inside the house, at the same time, they are lifted from the ground to avoid the humidity of coming inside the house, mainly when the cross ventilation is achieved by the orientation. The use of corridors with long overhangs wrapping the house is something pretty common in this architecture to integrate successfully the interior.
Design goals for MC1
a- Responsibility and efficiency in energy consumption
b- Responsibility and efficiency in use or reuse of water
c- Durable Project and construction
d- Lifestyle flexibility
e- Maximize recycle
f- Occupant health
g- Adaptation to ecological principles
Sustainable and bioclimatic characteristics
1. Sustainable Site
A creation of erosion and sedimentation control plan was created during the design phase and implemented during the construction. The house site is a previously Developer land, it was the only area in the property without any tree.
The orientation of the house was chosen to minimize the environmental impact following the natural topography of the property to avoid a high volume of dirt movement and to benefit the house temperatures with the use of crossed ventilation.
Native plants have been planted don the surroundings and open interior gardens to create natural habitats and biological corridors, for native species as a high diversity of birds and monkeys.
The parking design promotes the infiltration and reduces the heat islands.
The pathway to the house is lifted from the ground to promote infiltration and reduction of dirt movement volume.
The 50% of the house is lifted from the ground to Benefit the internal temperatures, reducing the humidity inside the house and promoting the rainwater infiltration.
Coverage area = 0.08%
2. Water Efficiency
A store water collection system was implemented in the house, collecting the rainwater from the roofs and storing it in a captation tank. This water is used for the water mirrors, pool and internal and external landscape irrigation.
Water efficient appliances and toilets were installed in the house. The use of potable water has been reduced in a 50%.
3.Energy and Atmosphere
The house envelope was designed and built with a hybrid structural system with steel + glass + concrete, this way the thermals in the bedrooms are controlled during the day to minimize the use of HVAC. In the social area, the use of steel structures and glass envelope with sliding and vent systems were created to control natural ventilation movements to benefit the temperatures to create healthy environments for the occupants and to avoid completely the use of HVAC.
Windows and openings have been created to achieve enough daylight to reduce the use of artificial Light (energy) during the day.
A solar hot water tank and low energy consumption appliances were installed to reduce the energy consumption.
All the exterior lighting is solar, Fluorescent Light and LED were installed in the bedrooms. General lighting has been calculated to contribute on glare reduction to improve nighttime visibility to reduce the development impact n the nocturnal natural environment.
4. Materials and Resources
Regional materials: used to achieve a reduction of the environmental impact from transportation and recycling.
- Certified Wood: floors and structures.
- Recycled Wood: ceilings and roof structures
- Mosaic floor: used in vernacular architecture, traditional material in Costa Rica.
- Concrete: material with great thermal characteristics, easy manipulation by regional labor and low energy handed for fabrication.
Other important materials:
- Glass: with UV protection (65%) to reduce internal temperatures and energy consumption, and maximize daylight and views.
- Steel: this material has great characteristics because of its high potential to be recycled and transported. The 50% of the steel comes from recycled sources and during its fabrication; just a short amount of water is required.
5. Indoor Environmental Quality
The house enjoys of a balanced impact5 of ventilation rates on energy use and indoor air quality to optimize for energy efficiency and occupant health.
The 100% of the house enjoys natural daylight, ventilation and views creating a healthy and prosperous environment that improves the quality of life of its occupants.
Lobby Tower as an important design characteristic of the house
The tower located at the lobby in this house has very important bioclimatic characteristics. It is a structure of 6m tall from house level and 8m tall from ground level as it’s located on the floating area of the house. Two skylights are located in this tower to increase the amount of daylight that comes inside the house. This skylights function as ventilation chimney because, the openings they have are in charge to expel all the hot air accumulated in the house, as this structure is the highest element in the house.
A water mirror is located in this tower to refresh the lobby, reflect nature on the floor (water = mirror), increase the natural light thru water reflections and in combination with the skylights, create vapor that will increase the collection of heat on its way to the top, increasing pressure and taking the heat out faster.
This tower has openings on its both sides facing the predominant winds, this way, the doors and vents located there, helps the house breath and enjoy the crossed ventilation in this tower, creating comfort temperatures and working as partner with the skylights to take the heat as quick as possible.
