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La Pastillita
La Pastillita
Santa Cruz, Provincia de Guanacaste, Costa Rica
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La Pastillita
Santa Cruz, Provincia de Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Type
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2025
SIZE
0 sqft - 1000 sqft
BUDGET
$50K - 100K
La Pastillita is a project that materializes an intimate desire of the architect: to imagine and build a personal space from a position of complete freedom. Conceived during the pandemic, it began as a private exploration that sought a way to “encapsulate” oneself and relocate toward a territory with greater physical, environmental, and emotional openness than the city of San José.
At that moment, the architect felt a strong need for closer contact with the ground and with nature. From this impulse, he undertook the design—without a defined site or budget—of a minimal space capable of supporting his daily life according to his routines and modes of inhabitation, while remaining as compact, efficient, and spatially clear as possible.
The organization of the project is structured around a rigid central core that contains the sanitary services. From this core, a looped circulation system distributes the various programs outward, attaching them to the “pill” like components on a motherboard. Under this logic, the corridor ceases to be merely a space of passage and instead becomes an active working and living device, integrating the kitchen, wash basin, laundry tower, office, closet, and storage. These niches are not only functional but also plastic elements that shape the façades, enabling cross ventilation and maximizing natural light.
Life eventually led the architect to meet someone who is now one of his closest friends, who offered one of his properties as the site for the project. His education and appreciation for art allowed La Pastillita to be built very closely to its original conception, while his contributions further enhanced the spatial quality and habitability of the project.
Because the project was initially conceived to be able to function and be built almost generically in any location, it was designed on pilotis, creating a structural “chassis” that supports the building through a system of structural crosses. These primary crosses carry a lightweight metal structure with diverse enclosures. Despite its minimal footprint, the project is topped by a concrete slab that expands its usable area by transforming the roof into a terrace for leisure and social life. A jacuzzi-type pool was also integrated, designed to enjoy the warm climate of the tropical dry forest where La Pastillita eventually took root: Río Seco, in 27 de Abril, Santa Cruz, Guanacaste.
In order to engage with its context, the color palette draws from the region’s traditions and atmosphere, combining ochre tones that evoke both Mesoamerican heritage and the surrounding landscape. The orange of the steel beams references clay pottery; the sandy tone recalls the beaches of Callejones; the brown echoes the bark of trees in the dry tropics; the ceiling is painted yellow to suggest a permanent sun overhead; and the clay floor reclaims a material long associated with colonial vernacular architecture. The interplay of colors, textures, and volumes creates a composition that seeks to blend into the shifting tones produced by the dramatic seasonal changes of the natural environment.
Finally, La Pastillita is also a tribute to the people who built it. The workers—whose tradition bridges construction and carpentry—approached every detail with genuine care and refined craftsmanship. Every decision was carefully modulated, and even offcuts and improvisation were used as design tools. In this way, a distinct language emerged—one that was conceived without a fixed context yet ultimately made one its home.
At that moment, the architect felt a strong need for closer contact with the ground and with nature. From this impulse, he undertook the design—without a defined site or budget—of a minimal space capable of supporting his daily life according to his routines and modes of inhabitation, while remaining as compact, efficient, and spatially clear as possible.
The organization of the project is structured around a rigid central core that contains the sanitary services. From this core, a looped circulation system distributes the various programs outward, attaching them to the “pill” like components on a motherboard. Under this logic, the corridor ceases to be merely a space of passage and instead becomes an active working and living device, integrating the kitchen, wash basin, laundry tower, office, closet, and storage. These niches are not only functional but also plastic elements that shape the façades, enabling cross ventilation and maximizing natural light.
Life eventually led the architect to meet someone who is now one of his closest friends, who offered one of his properties as the site for the project. His education and appreciation for art allowed La Pastillita to be built very closely to its original conception, while his contributions further enhanced the spatial quality and habitability of the project.
Because the project was initially conceived to be able to function and be built almost generically in any location, it was designed on pilotis, creating a structural “chassis” that supports the building through a system of structural crosses. These primary crosses carry a lightweight metal structure with diverse enclosures. Despite its minimal footprint, the project is topped by a concrete slab that expands its usable area by transforming the roof into a terrace for leisure and social life. A jacuzzi-type pool was also integrated, designed to enjoy the warm climate of the tropical dry forest where La Pastillita eventually took root: Río Seco, in 27 de Abril, Santa Cruz, Guanacaste.
In order to engage with its context, the color palette draws from the region’s traditions and atmosphere, combining ochre tones that evoke both Mesoamerican heritage and the surrounding landscape. The orange of the steel beams references clay pottery; the sandy tone recalls the beaches of Callejones; the brown echoes the bark of trees in the dry tropics; the ceiling is painted yellow to suggest a permanent sun overhead; and the clay floor reclaims a material long associated with colonial vernacular architecture. The interplay of colors, textures, and volumes creates a composition that seeks to blend into the shifting tones produced by the dramatic seasonal changes of the natural environment.
Finally, La Pastillita is also a tribute to the people who built it. The workers—whose tradition bridges construction and carpentry—approached every detail with genuine care and refined craftsmanship. Every decision was carefully modulated, and even offcuts and improvisation were used as design tools. In this way, a distinct language emerged—one that was conceived without a fixed context yet ultimately made one its home.
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