Building a house is never simple, and building a house in the jungle certainly has its moments! It requires vision, careful planning, a solid team, patience, and above all, resilience. The latter is so very important, and not just for peace of mind, but also for sustainable and durable design. It has a double-meaning here in the Southern Zone where driving your vision through to completion, and having it last, is the real test of good design.
How Design Can Be Integrated
Design is not merely decorative or superficial, it’s a carefully considered process of thinking through the aesthetics and more importantly, the functionality. How something works, and its’ seamless fit into daily life, is more important than how it looks, frankly. What works elsewhere does not work here. A designer is one who stands directly at the axis of form and function. Design should be beautiful and also work very hard. Good design is not nearly as expensive as bad design, and that’s doubly true here.
Considerations for Building in Costa Rica
Our weather may not have the cold extremes of the north, but humidity, heavy rainfall, daily heat expansion and earthquakes, are normal, natural and integral to life here. I see people design a house like they’re in California, and spend years (and dollars) trying to “keep it up” instead of using materials and design ideas which age beautifully and have inherent durability.
Good design works with nature, we embrace it, we incorporate it and that creates a sustainable, resilient home. Design for the rain, it’s going to happen! Better still, celebrate the wet season by incorporating all that rain flow into gardens and seasonal stream beds, so that functionally, as we move it away from your house, it brings joy and beauty.
