An ocean-minded community nestled in the lush jungles of Playa Ostional, Guanacaste.
Inspired by Nature
Driven by Passion
a introduction
Welcome to guanavista
The place where environmental consciousness meets the pura vida lifestyle. Watch this video to learn more.
The Project
An Overview
Elegant Living
Guanacaste, Costa Rica, is a tropical paradise that offers elegant living for those seeking an escape from the hustle and bustle of city life. With stunning beaches, lush forests, and a vibrant culture, Guanacaste is the perfect destination for those who want to relax and indulge in the finer things in life.
Building Consciously
Working with a skilled master planner, architect, and biologist is critical to creating sustainable building that minimizes its environmental impact and provides long-term benefits for both the environment and its occupants. They can also create a plan integrating sustainable practices and promoting wildlife conservation - allowing for the community to co-exist with the surrounding wildlife while still enjoying a high quality of life.
Protected Green Space
Guanavista will have a minimal footprint on our natural surroundings.
Throughout the project, we have connected the community and its amenities via nature trails. There are 7 miles of trails with various spots of interest, including hanging bridges, yoga ranchos, parkour workouts, and trails for mountain biking.
Moreover, we are implementing reforestation strategies, replacing invasive species with species native to the Guanacaste area.
Proximity To The Beach
Maritime building laws in Costa Rica's national parks are in place to protect the fragile ecosystems and biodiversity of the country's coastal areas. The Maritime Zone Law establishes specific construction and land use guidelines within a designated area along the country's coastline.
In national parks, these efforts are even more stringent to ensure that development does not harm the environment or interfere with the park's conservation efforts. Compliance with these laws is critical to preserve Costa Rica's coastal areas' natural beauty and ecological health for generations to come. With that said, 200 meters is, by law, the closest one can build, and our project borders the 200-meter zone of the Northern Part of Playa Ostional.
HOA Community
An HOA or homeowners association is crucial when building in a wildlife sensitive area. It ensures that homeowners follow guidelines to minimize their impact on the environment and wildlife, helping to preserve the ecosystem.
Additionally, HOAs are crucial for maintaining community standards and amenities, which will ensure consistent quality of life for all residents while at the same time providing a framework for community involvement.
House Renders Description & Individual Lot Climate Analysis
We analyze the climate conditions of Ostional to determine the best bioclimatic strategies for the project to achieve an energy conscious design and environmentally responsive architecture that ensure thermal comfort for the project.
As a pre-design phase, we analyze the site's context, focusing on existing and potential conditions on and around the property. We perform this examination to have a better knowledge of the lot and understand how the different factors co-exist and interact to determine the optimal design parameters for the project.
Analysis types: sun path analysis, wind analysis, hydrology analysis, noise analysis. Read analysis
Incorporating: bioclimatic design, passive ventilation strategy, building orientation strategy, passive shading strategy, climate analysis Learn More
Amenities
GuanaVista combines modern amenities with sustainability, offering a clubhouse, gym, yoga shalas, hiking trails, and tennis courts designed to coexist with nature and support community well-being
Design planning
Master design
design planning
House Renders
LOT 7
LOT 8
UNDER CONTRACT
LOT 10
Our location
context map
Our vision
LOOK & Feel
A collection of images, colors, and textures that help to communicate the feeling and atmosphere for the project.
THE TEAM
We are a passionate, like-minded team driven to create a community where environmental consciousness meets the pura vida lifestyle.
Doug, Graham and Jon, the founders of Guanavista, are lifelong friends from eastern North Carolina. From a young age they’ve connected through their passion for surfing. Costa Rica has become their home, after decades spent in the Guanacaste area. Today they’ve come together to create a unique community that prioritizes environmental consciousness.
OUR PARTNERS
The environment
Wildlife
Playa Ostional is also home to the world-famous Ostional Wildlife Refuge, where you can witness the awe-inspiring arribada, a mass nesting of Olive Ridley sea turtles.
Discover
The Ostional Wildlife Refuge is the second most important place in the world for the protection and nesting of the olive ridley sea turtle.
The refuge was created in 1984 to protect the animals from poachers known for stealing turtle eggs for commercial purposes.
Turtles nest at Ostional year round, but peak time is during rainy season. “Arribadas” (turtle arrivals), which is how this phenomenon is commonly known, often occur during September, October, and November.
Motmots are proof that common birds are not necessarily common looking. A stunning family of birds — one or more of the six motmot types — are readily found in and along the edges of forests throughout Costa Rica. Both motmot and bobo (the name Costa Ricans use) are onomatopoeia, meaning their name sounds like the call they make: “mot-mot” or “bo-bo.”
The most recognizable feature of motmots are their “racket” tails, resembling a badminton or tennis racket. It was once believed that these birds plucked their tail feathers off themselves, but recent studies show otherwise: tail feathers are present at birth but the shafts weaken from wear and preening, eventually falling out naturally. The purpose of the racket formation is not totally understood, but it is believed that motmots wag their tails in a pendulum fashion, back and forth, as a lure. Would-be predators like larger invertebrates and small lizards are attracted to the rackets and attack, only to end up as a meal themselves. The other strange aspect of motmot behavior is that they nest in the ground, digging little caves in the side of hills to hatch and raise their young.
There are nine species of howler monkey, and Costa Rica is home to the common mantled howler.
Howler monkeys usually vocalize at dawn and dusk by passing air through a specially-adapted hyoid bone in their large throats. Howler monkeys rarely set their feet on the ground, they only travel trough the canopy.
Contrary to their sounds, they are very peaceful vegetarians who love bathing in the sunshine.
The Ostional Wildlife Reserve extends 15 km along the shoreline, including the beaches of Ostional, Nosara and Guiones. It is only a narrow, 200 m wide strand of beach, but extends inland along the estuaries of the rivers and mangrove swamps where it also protects large colonies of birds.
