An offset stack of concrete volumes forms this small apartment building on Costa Rica's lush Pacific coast, by local architecture firm VOID.
The Guarumo building overlooks the ocean from a hillside plot in Santa Teresa, a popular surfing destination near the tip of the Nicoya Peninsula.
The Guarumo building is staggered down a steep slope
It houses five apartments that can be rented out separately, or as an entire villa for up to 14 guests.
Challenged by the steep topography, VOID chose to arrange the building as a stack of four cuboid volumes that are slightly offset from one another. All face west to enjoy water and sunset views.
Cuboid concrete volumes are offset from one another
This layout allowed for minimal movement of soil or construction of retaining walls, and for upper floors to gain a better vantage over the dense tropical foliage.
Board-formed concrete was selected as the primary structural material. It wraps the accommodation blocks on five sides, leaving the sixth open for glazing.
Board-formed concrete walls are contrasted with weathering steel panels
The top two cuboids are almost identical in plan, each housing a two-bedroom apartment.
Sleeping quarters and en-suite bathrooms are positioned at both ends, flanking a small kitchen and lounge at the centre.
A communal living area is open to the landscape on all sides
All the rooms have floor-to-ceiling glass that opens onto balconies running the length of each volume.
The uppermost apartment also has access to a roof terrace, where sofas and loungers are shaded by a wood-framed cabana.
A staircase made from weathering steel mesh connects the storeys on the road side of the property, where a parking area sits level with the lower two-bed apartment.
The remainder of the building is below this grade, reached by a concrete ramp the descends to the main communal space.
The building's five apartments can be rented out individually or as a whole property
Open to the landscape on all sides, the large kitchen, dining area and lounge are positioned between large concrete columns. They connect directly to a wooden sun deck and an infinity pool, surrounded by vegetation.
"The heart of Guarumo consists of a void, a fracture in the staggering of the program blocks, which becomes the social meeting point of the project for both residents and guests," said VOID.
Concrete and steel surfaces continue through the interiors
Three small studios occupy the lowest level – another concrete volume, located directly beneath the terrace.
These have just enough space for a double bed and bathroom, so need to make use of the facilities above.
The apartments, sun deck and infinity pool all face west for ocean and sunset views
Guarumo integrates several passive sustainable features, including rainwater collection, sewage water treatment for irrigation, and natural ventilation.
Timber was sourced locally, and materials were chosen for their low maintenance and longevity.
Guests are encouraged to socialise in the shared spaces
"The project is a reflection of the search that has marked our practice in sustainable architecture influenced by local and vernacular architecture, with a true understanding of the land," said the architects.
A playground for dogs and a holiday boathouse designed to educate children on animal protection are included in Dezeen's latest school show by My ArchiSchool.
Also included are self-standing modular units designed to address sustainable development in Hong Kong and a teahouse designed as a retreat for stressed city workers.
"My Archischool provides an introduction to architectural education and digital design for those seeking knowledge and skills to aid their future career aspirations.
"The Hong Kong-based organisation offers in-person and online courses to help young people develop 3D modeling skills that can be applied to future careers in architecture and urban planning. Geared towards children and teenagers between the ages of six and 18, the various stages of tuition start at the beginner level and progress to cover a range of tools, interfaces, and outputs.
"One-off classes allow students to get a taste of the available courses and teaching styles. A variety of program packages are offered to those wishing to develop a wide range of skills over several sessions. These include writing and portfolio development, while the most comprehensive package concludes with an exhibition of student work after eight months of study.
"One of the digital tools taught through the programme is the 3DExperience Platform developed by Dassault Systèmes, which allows students to build in and manipulate 3D digital models of cities like Hong Kong and Paris."
Designing my Floating Restaurant for All Climate Conditions by Antonia Villet
"When faced with the increasing frequency of flooding, what can we do to get prepare?
"Villet has designed a beach-side restaurant. The main restaurant area is elevated from the beach. The roof is a wooden cantilevered structure, open towards the seaside. Guests go up the restaurant along a long ramp or a staircase. It is always accessible despite the water level.
"Villet used an adaptive approach, designing a flexible building that can quickly adapt to different climatic situations."
Designing my Teahouse with 100 per cent renewable energy by Oscar Chung
"To embrace the biodiversity, what can we do to support the ecosystem of our city?
"Chung has designed a teahouse that runs on renewable energy. The roof serves as a 'bird hotel' for the migrating birds passing by. Food and water freshly harvested from the teahouse garden are served when sensors detect the bird's motion.
"People would eat their tea upon the open deck below (under the organic form of the roof) and enjoy the sounds of birds. As a result, Chung has developed an ideal partnership between humans and nature."
Designing my Floating Restaurant: A City Island by Annecy Hui
"How can we uphold the quality of living during the lockdown?
"Inspired by the loneliness aroused when lockdown happened, Hui has designed a restaurant as an island. The upper level is the main dining area, with the lower deck served as the arrival and departure hall.
"Based on the geometry of the semi-hemisphere, every table is facing outward towards a sea view."
Designing my School accessible for All by Abigail Shih
"What can we do to design a more inclusive society? Particularly educational facilities?
"Shih has designed a school located on the waterfront. She designed the classrooms under an exoskeleton, which allows all rooms to face outwards.
"Such a design was inspired by the tents of a campsite which mitigated the various levels of the ground. Different site conditions can be easily turned barrier-free. This articulation of rooms provides a better acoustic separation of each room."
Designing my waterfront Restaurant for people with their dogs by Na Kyung (Arlene) Lee
"What can we do to support the friendship between dogs and humans?
"Lee has proposed a dog playground in the city, where dog-friendly facilities like open space and running areas will be provided.
"The ground floor is designed to be very spacious for people and their dogs to exercise together. The idea of mutual support between humans and dogs creates a better quality of city living."
Student:Na Kyung (Arlene) Lee Course: Architectural Design Program 1.0 Email: arlenenk.lee[at]gmail.com
Designing my Floating Restaurant with a courtyard by Alanna Mak
"How can we farm more sustainably? Let's start it from our kitchens!
"Mak has designed a green restaurant with a garden, from which people can harvest home-grown vegetables and fruits. The main dining area is inside an elongated vault allowing natural sunlight throughout the day whist sufficient shading is be provided by the rib-like structure.
"The courtyard serves as a light well to bring in more natural light and facilitated the cross ventilation."
Designing my Resort with 100 per cent renewable energy by Minjoon Ji
"Green living is a new standard of quality living. How can we provide more options of green design?
"Ji has designed a resort which would be equipped by its own renewable energy setups like solar panels and windmills, taking advantage of the site conditions.
"He designed the entrance similarly to a Korean house, whilst the windmills were put up as a welcoming gesture to the guests when they arrive."
Student:Minjoon Ji Course: Architectural Design Program 1.0 Email: jiminjoon079[at]gmail.com
Designing my Floating Restaurant with sustainable fish-farming by Heidi Liang
"Who wants to eat? Food freshly caught from the water!
"Liang designed a sustainable 'dream' community – a floating restaurant, equipped with a fish farm. The building blocks were of conical shape with an open-top in order to allow cooking at the table.
"The fish farms were arranged along the entrance pathway to the restaurant so that guests can see them when they arrive. As a result, Liang has developed a new prototype of a sustainable community."
Designing my Floating Restaurant with an Aquarium by Maia Li
"When people see the beauty of nature, they will be motivated to protect it. The question is how to ensure people see it?
"Li has designed a floating restaurant/aquarium in the middle of the ocean to ensure guests appreciate the ocean's beauty. She has created layers of glass enclosure to deflect the sunlight into rainbows."
Student:Maia Li Course: Architectural Design Programme 1.0 Email: sengangela[at]hotmail.com
Designing my Holiday House by Queenie Sun
"How do we motivate more people to protect our animals?
"Sun has designed a holiday house boathouse. The boathouse is designed to travel around, taking children to different places to see various animals on land and water. It is a tiny house with a comfy living area and an open deck."
Student:Queenie Sun Course: Architectural Design Programme 1.0 Email: sunqueenie865[at]gmail.com
Designing my Home in forest by Sophia Xue
"How can we nourish our kids with nature?
"Zue has designed a school campus project with various educational facilities. Open space and playground were on top of her list. She has created sky gardens in addition to the open space on the ground floor level. She emphasised simplicity and calmness when designing the interiors."
Designing my Teahouse for spiritual Wellbeing by Alice Ippolito
"How can we help people living in a city enhance their mental health?
"Ippolito has designed a teahouse project as a hideaway. The building is designed as an undulating sculpture with the tearooms arranged in a simple and open-plan approach.
"Once the guests entered the lobby, they witness the beautiful river. The spatial layers demonstrate how the environment would influence the spiritual realm of city lives."
Student: Alice Ippolito Course: Architectural Design Programme 1.0
Email: alice.ippolito.nyc[at]gmail.com
Designing my Teahouse as a micro-cosmos by Zoe So
"Have you ever got lost? How can we find our ways out in such a chaotic world? Can architecture be a solution?
"So loves designing mini-communities. She turned her teahouse project into a 'micro-cosmos' by designing all sides of facades to be in glass structures.
"The interior atmosphere would then be synchronised to the outside world. Guests would enjoy tea-making whilst feeling protected and fully immersed in the world."
Student:Zoe So Course: Architectural Design Programmee 1.0 Email: soyi.xx1120[at]gmail.com
Designing my Home in the garden by Natalie Lau
"Speaking of green architecture, how can we make the act of building green and environmentally friendly?
"Lau has proposed self-standing modular structural units which could be prefabricated off-site. As they are designed to be self-standing and ensure minimal disturbance to the site and area. Lau played with the modules to form different blocks for various areas. Lau has answered some of the critical issues of sustainable development in urban contexts like that of Hong Kong."
Student:Natalie Lau Course: Architectural Design Programme 1.0 Email: launatalie1126[at]gmail.com
Designing my Teahouse as a city retreat by Angus Watt
"What's troubling you at this moment? Shall we take a break?
"How can architectural design support the modern world to achieve 'wellbeing' as highlighted in the sustainable development goal of the United Nations?
"In his design of a teahouse, Watt has created a city retreat for those who feel stressed and tired. The design would be made from timber, as inspired by the woodlands of his mother's homeland. The intimacy of the texture of wood would help people reconnect with nature."
Designing a temporary housing as a refuge with hydropower by Edward Ho
"How can we protect people's lives and properties while the frequency of disastrous happenings keeps going up?
"In his design of housing development, Ho has created a small cluster for 10 residential units in a form of an oval shell. When flooding happens, water would be drained along the nullah.
"The water flow would then generate hydropower with the built-in turbines sets for the estate as a backup if the city grid went wrong during flooding."
Student:Edward Ho Course: Architectural Design Programme 1.0 Email: edho1110[at]gmail.com
Visual Mock-up for Green Bathroom and sustainable Kitchen by Annecy Hui, Oscar Chung, Na Kyung (Arlene) Lee and Abigail Shih
"How can we rally more powerful brains for sustainable architectural design?
"Four levels six students of My Archischool have hand-built a part of the visual mockup of their 'Green Bathroom' and 'Sustainable Kitchen' design in order to invite more young ones to experience the awesomeness of living with green architecture!
The water closet is disguised as trees with the interior green wall, which would be watered simultaneously whilst people go shower. An 'edible forest' on the kitchen counter ensures home-grown veggies and herbs are available every day. "
Student: Annecy Hui, Oscar Chung, Na Kyung (Arlene) Lee and Abigail Shih Course: Research Project on Sustainability by Level six, Architectural Design Programme 1.0 Email: annecyhui0[at]gmail.com, oscarchungbk[at]gmail.com, arlenenk.lee[at]gmail.com, abigailshih97[at]gmail.com
Partnership content
This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and My ArchiSchool. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.
Dezeen promotion: Italian design brand JCP Universe has updated its website with an e-commerce section where visitors can purchase an array of the brand's diverse interior products.
Born in 2016 as an offshoot of interior design company Jumbo Group, JCP Universe is a self-described "experimental brand" that aims to explore the boundary between art and design.
JCP Universe is known for its experimental approach
The brand was launched in 2015 after a think-tank held in Milan and is run by experimental design studio CTRLZAK.
JCP Universe's new website features all of the pieces designed by the brand since its inception.
The brand has produced an e-commerce section for its new website
Products featured on its website include seating, tables, cabinets, consoles, bookcases, lamps and rugs, as well as decorative items such as vases.
"The Karst bookcase is inspired by the terrestrial stratification with its sinuous shapes and lava stone," said the brand.
"Not to be missed are those pieces able to alter the perspective of any habitat thanks to their surprising presence, such as the Selen vase – essential in its nature and function – emerging from a Selenite block, or Sideroid Azimuth, a decorative object that encapsulates the 3d print of a meteorite fallen on Earth."
Nanda Vigo's Sun-Ra lamps are included
Many of the pieces are designed to have an otherworldly feel, and a wide selection of designers produced the brand's products, including Milanese designer Nanda Vigo and Mantua-based Alessandro Zambelli.
Also featured on the site is work from Milan-based design studio CTRLZAK including the Selen vase and Naia mirror, as well as the Agment console.
Agaxa stools by CTRLZAK also feature on the site
"JCP discloses a Universe of wonder and discovery, made of furniture objects and complements radically different between each other’s but linked by the common thread of experimentation," the brand concluded.
To learn more about JCP Universe and to view its products visit the brand's website.
Partnership content
This article was written by Dezeen for JCP Universe as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.
Dutch leather goods brand Wandler has transformed an abandoned petrol station in Amsterdam into a mirrored installation to showcase its latest collection.
To commence Amsterdam Fashion Week, Wandler held its pre-fall 2021 capsule collection presentation in the Amsterdam-Noord area off the side of a highway.
Top and above: the collection was shown at an abandoned petrol station
It took place in an abandoned petrol station, which was selected by Wandler founder Elza Wandler because of its likeness to the bold lines found in the brand's designs.
"Our designs are distinctive in shape, almost architectural and graphic in color and lines," Wandler told Dezeen.
"We thought that a gas station also has these features: clean lines and bold shape," she said. "Such a building really makes an impact and would be the perfect setting for our presentation."
It was wrapped in a reflective material
The Citydressers, which collaborated with the brand to develop the creative production, wrapped the gas station in reflective material and installed refrigerator-like display cases and bright lighting throughout.
The petrol station's shop at the heart of the structure became the focal point for the installation and housed the collection within the display cases, which were lit by apple-green lighting.
There was a light and sound installation
"The green hue represented Wandler’s use of the colour green that defines its collection," The Citydressers told Dezeen. "We filled [the petrol station's shop] with green light."
"We coloured the rest of the petrol station metallic, a contrasting colour which not only emphasised and strengthened the colour green, it also ensured a full-on green glow throughout the entire petrol station."
Guests invited to the presentation were provided with headsets through which they listened to a soundscape while walking from a nearby park towards the petrol station.
The soundscape, created by Guy Blanken, was paired with a light installation by Nikki Hock. Rectangular frames were also suspended from the petrol station, illuminating the space with colours informed by the collection.
Bags and shoes were displayed like artefacts
"I wanted to create a spatial light- and sound installation that continuously modifies our perception of ourselves, the audience and the space around us – a hypnotising landscape, in which I invite the audience to be part of the work," Hock told Dezeen.
"The abandoned gas station in combination with its surrounding trees already provided a very strong image. The space offered lots of stimuli that I merely wanted to emphasise."
The space was lit a shade of apple green
The presentation is one example of how fashion weeks have begun returning to physical events, following a year of digital shows in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Dezeen Showroom: Italian furniture brand Cassina has updated Soriana, curvaceous seating originally created in 1969 by postmodern Italian architects and designers Afra and Tobia Scarpa.
Defined by its lack of internal support, Soriana takes its shape from the grip of a metal structure that wraps it.
Soriana is a design from 1969
The seating, which is part of Cassina's I Contemporane collection comprises long sofas and short armchairs in a series of colours.
Soriana was originally designed in 1969 by Afra and Tobia Scarpa, and the seating won the Compasso d'Oro, a prestigious design award in 1970 for its complex design achieved using simple tools.
Soriana has been reissued in an attempt to be more sustainable
Together with Tobia Scarpa, Cassina has reissued Soriana. The seat is made from 100 per cent recycled blown fibre padding made from Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recovered from non-profit enterprise Plastic Bank.
The updated design is part of Cassina LAB, a project by Cassina which aims to promote wellbeing and sustainable design.
About Dezeen Showroom:Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen's huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.
Dezeen Showroom is an example of partnership content on Dezeen. Find out more about partnership content here.
