New Costa Rican eco resort features yoga studio enveloped by jungle

Emerging architecture practice Studio Saxe have completed a boutique hotel and yoga studio set into the tropical forest of Nosara, Costa Rica.

Nomel and Mariya Libid, the owners of the Hotel Nalu-Nosara, wanted to create a resort for the visitors who travel to Nosara because of its reputation for health and wellness tourism and surfing.

Studio Saxe were commissioned to design the hotel, which includes a yoga studio and multipurpose gym space that is enveloped by lush vegetation on all sides; becoming “a jungle retreat for exercise and relaxation, with no walls, only trees.”

Guests stay in individual pavilion ‘homes’ rather than rooms, which have been positioned based on research into wind and sun patterns and to activate the best views of the impressive landscape. Overlapping timber roofs, made of recycled Teak planks, project out over each pavilion providing shade and creating uneven patterns that “emphasise the tension between local craftsmanship and modern design.”

“By breaking up the mass of the traditionally monolithic hotel, the architects were able scatter living spaces amongst the trees and create a sense of privacy while surrounded by the natural world located just a few minutes’ walk from the ocean,” the design team said in a statement.

Rooms are connected via corridors that filter dappled sunlight down from the pergola roofs above and frame more views of the surroundings.

"Our project at Nalu represents the power of simple, low-key, modern tropical architecture,” said architect Benjamin Garcia Saxe. It’s quickly become a town favourite, which shows that there is a real desire to occupy spaces that bring people closer to nature, while addressing the needs of contemporary life.”