Living up high with the trees is a dream for many, especially when that home faces the ocean and was designed specifically for you. When the Gooden-Nahome family wanted to make that dream a reality on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, they looked to Benjamin Garcia Saxe. Even though the site proved challenging, since it is on a steep slope and the water can only truly be seen from the mid-upper area, the architect made it work. The finished project is called Casa Flotanta and is a stunning treehouse-like structure that relies on posts to give the impression of floating.
Completed in 2013, the unique difficulties present in the position of Casa Flotanta weren’t taken as a negative, instead they was seen as an opportunity to create a home appropriate for the environment. “Together we explored possibilities of creating large retaining walls and cutting back the soil in order to place the house, a technique used by most houses around the area,” explains the team at Benjamin Garcia Saxe. But instead, they decided to do the opposite and “actually allow the slope, the earth, the vegetation, water, and animals to flow underneath the house.” By suspending the house among the trees and skipping soil retention walls, the team was able to save the Gooden-Nahome family some money, while lowering the environmental impact from the build.
Designed around a module layout, the various rooms and spaces are connected by “flying bridges” that float over the natural landscape below. Due to the slope, much of the home had to be fabricated off-site and then brought up with a crane. “For us it is a great pleasure to know that with common sense, creativity, and clever engineering, we managed to create a unique home in a seemingly impossible location.”
Obviously, Casa Flotanta isn’t for sale, but if you have a challenging build site and nothing else would do, you may want to call Benjamin Garcia Saxe.
