Gardenia Rohrmoser Building, San Jose Real Estate, Prodeyco Costa Rican Architecture Photos

Gardenia, Rohrmoser, San Jose, in Costa Rica

7 April 2022

Gardenia, Rohrmoser, San Jose

Architects: Studio Saxe

Location: Costa Rica

Photos below by Andres Garcia Lachner

Gardenia, Rohrmoser, San Jose, by StudioSaxe

Large Planted Terraces Create Costa Rica’s First Vertical Garden Building That Blends Nature Within A City Environment

Overview
Studio Saxe decided to design and develop its first vertical sustainable building, proving that it is financially viable to create an architecture of value focused on quality of life through large terraces and planting, within the constraints of the local economy.

Concept
Studio Saxe’s first vertical development was conceptualized as an opportunity to bring the typical garden to vertical construction, increasing the quality of life for inhabitants in built-up cities in the tropics. Automated irrigation systems allow for vegetation to thrive on terraces creating a sensation of indoor-outdoor living.

Design
By creating distinct terraces on every level, the building gives personality to each dwelling, allowing for every apartment even when the interior layout is the same to have a diverse and interesting relationship to the outside through terraces that move from side to side. This allows not only privacy to the street but also protection from the sun and rain.

Construction
Gardenia was conceived as a concrete structure that utilized prefabricated techniques, giving the ability to be assembled quickly on-site thus allowing for the cost of the units to remain within a reasonable market value. This confirmed it’s possible to have large terraces, vegetation, parasols, and many other technologies within a specific market thus bringing the perception of the possible buyers to a new standard.

Landscape
Studio Saxe’s landscape design was key in order to create a building that not only brings the wildness of the natural landscape to the city but incorporates passive technologies such as water harvesting and other strategies like irrigation, plant control, and plant biology. This created a true echo system with a diverse variety of plants that allow for birds and threatened species such as bees to be part of the building’s natural environment to establish a harmonious coexistence with humans.

Interior Design
Studio Saxe’s interior design department coordinated all materials, kitchen design, bathroom design, living and communal spaces to be cohesive with the architectural theme of an urban tropical glamorous development. This sustainable and bioclimatic design allowed for the cohesion of materials and colors inside-out that created a harmonious building that seems to be designed by and for people with like-minded interests.

Sustainability
Gardenia was conceived through passive design strategies like temperature control allowing cross ventilation to happen throughout each apartment thus not having corridors between units. Large terraces protect from the blazing sun at certain times of the day which are combined with parasols that also allow fractured light to seep through and provide temperature control.

Photos below by Elias Porras

Vegetation on every terrace allows for materials to cool down quickly. The plants within the building are irrigated through special filters that collect rain and recycled water used by the dwellers to create a self-sustaining cycle. The common area is located on the second floor which has an orchard with edible plants that the dwellers can collect for personal consumption.

Gardenia, Rohrmoser, San Jose, Costa Rica – Building Information

Architects: Studio Saxe

Location: Rohrmoser, San Jose, Costa Rica
Date of completion: May 2021
Client: Saxe Development Group
Area: Approximately 5544 sqm

Studio Saxe Design Director: Benjamin G. Saxe
Architecture: Studio Saxe
Builder: Prodeyco
Structural Engineer: Sotela Alfaro LTD
Electromechanical Engineer: CIEM
Interior Design: Saxe Interior Design
Landscape: Saxe Landscape

Photography: Andres Garcia Lachner, Elias Porras, Alessandra Tanzi

“Sustainability permeates everything we do and is not something you ‘add-on’ to a project at the later stages but rather it is an intrinsic part of a holistic design methodology.” – architect Benjamin G. Saxe

Studio Saxe

Benjamin G. Saxe set up his own practice in San Jose, Costa Rica in 2004, with the aim of exploring our relationship with the natural environment through architecture. Since then, Studio Saxe has grown into an award-winning international practice made up of a multidisciplinary team, creating buildings and spaces by blending technological innovation with handcrafted techniques to form truly sustainable designs.

Founded on the belief that buildings must connect to their landscape – whether a tropical paradise or a concrete jungle – Studio Saxe brings a global attitude to solve local problems. Ideas and techniques from around the world can be harnessed to benefit communities, both at home and abroad. Local traditions and identities are explored and developed, ensuring a process whereby we learn from the past and build for the future.

The dedicated architects and designers at Studio Saxe uncover new design solutions for every project, treating each building as an opportunity to improve methods and approaches, responding to specific places. Working alongside clients and collaborators, the studio continually seeks new forms and functions that blur the boundaries between natural habitats and inhabited space.

Studio contact details:

Latin America
Costa Rica
San Jose
PO Box 206-1225
T: +506 4030 6053

Europe
United Kingdom
London
T: +44 (0) 203 807 6408

North America
United Sates
Los Angeles
+1 (323) 283 8233
General Enquiries
info@studiosaxe.com
www.studiosaxe.com

Gardenia, Rohrmoser, San Jose, Costa Rica images / information received 060422

Website: Saxe Architects

Photography: Andres Garcia Lachner

Location: Rohrmoser, San Jose, Costa Rica, Central America

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