A patio house in the jungles of Costa Rica is an architectural experiment with a twist

Communing with its tropical jungle context, this new patio house in Costa Rica was conceived as an experimentation on its time-honed typology. The project, created by Mexican architect Manuel Cervantes for a private client, is a personal home but also an architectural exploration, seeking to blend the warm comforts of a residence with the leafy landscape of its setting – all, centred on the idyllic waters of a pool set right at the heart of the design.

Tour this sculptural patio house in Costa Rica

True to its patio identity, the house is arranged around a generous central courtyard. This open-air space becomes the heart of the home, connecting physically and visually different parts of the project, from creating a flow between al fresco rooms and circulation areas to bringing them all together around its blue swimming pool.

The ancient Roman impluvium provided ample inspiration, Cervantes explains: 'The courtyard acts as a climatic, spatial, and social condenser, collecting light, air, reflections, and human activity at the centre of the composition.'

The home's internal layout is organised around this central space – each 'wing' housing a distinct family of functions, and each of these contained within an interconnected, yet somewhat independent, 'pavilion.' So, rather than journeying between rooms, the residents are invited to cross thresholds and transition through different internal experiences as they inhabit the residence.

Spanning over 400 sq m in total, the project includes two generous living spaces, housed in two discrete volumes placed opposite each other. The other two 'pavilions' contain private areas – five large bedrooms with an en suite bathroom each. Everything is accommodated on a single ground level, with just an underground garage tucked under one of the volumes.

The structure's tactile textures – Pacific cedar, Nicaraguan brick, and chukum plaster – not only bring an organic feel to this very contemporary house but also connect it to its setting; they are all local materials and building techniques, perfected through centuries of indigenous skills. It is one more way for this private, 21st-century home, to be linked meaningfully to its green, natural island setting.

The architect writes: 'The project seeks to recover certain spatial values deeply rooted in Latin American domestic architecture. The courtyard, the shaded corridor, the thick wall, the intermediate space, and the constant presence of nature are reinterpreted through a contemporary architectural language. The objective is not nostalgia, but continuity; not the reproduction of historical forms, but the preservation of relationships between climate, culture, and habitation.'

And while a swimming pool at its heart might scream 'luxury' in some settings, here, the feature feels organic and entirely of its place. The architect adds: 'The pool is conceived not as an isolated amenity but as an extension of the central court itself, a reflective plane that amplifies light and reinforces the collective character of the house.'

'Emerging from this surface, two inhabitable pyramids introduce a sculptural dimension to the composition. These elements function simultaneously as landscape, architecture, and infrastructure, blurring conventional distinctions between object and building.'