Kasiiya is built on timber platforms from natural materials, it leaves no scar on its landscape. From the very beginning, the conservation of the tropical forest has been paramount. The intention of architecture and design studio AW2 was not to have minimal impact on the environment, but zero.
This project in Costa Rica has propelled architecture and the boutique hotel experience into a new dimension, or one might say, a new ecology. Architecture and nature can live in symbiosis rather than in opposition, without one trying to gain ground over the other. Kasiiya is the application of this concept. The project was completed without cutting down a single tree and without the use of concrete.
Meticulously positioned amidst 123 acres of wild landscape, our concept stems from the idea that there should be no frontier between architecture and the surrounding wilderness, between the inside and the outside. This boutique eco-lodge covers 2,000m² and contains 14 tents, a beach bar, restaurant, spa and communal spaces. It is composed on the scale of a village, made up of clusters of tents, densifying the habitat in some areas and then letting nature take full rein in others.Â
Constructed from mainly local natural materials, each tent offers its guests total comfort with bespoke furniture designed by AW². Assessable from a private path, each tent is carefully orientated to reconnect with nature alone. Inside the tents, the camping mindset continues. The demountable character, both fragile and impermanent, is affirmed everywhere.Â
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