Jungle Villa in Costa Rica

Sensitively nestled among the lush treetops of the Costa Rican jungle, Studio House is an example of architecture seamlessly attuned to its setting – a home that offers the rare experience of coexisting with nature.

WORDS Gina Dionisio PHOTOS BoysPlayNice

Perched on a south-facing slope above the Pacific Ocean near Uvita, Costa Rica, this jungle villa and creative studio was designed by architect Dagmar Štěpánová for herself and partner, Karel Vančura.

The sloping terrain was both a challenge and a guiding force in Dagmar’s design process. She shaped the house to follow the land’s complexity, adapting to its contours and avoiding tree roots, thereby integrating the surrounding vegetation into the design.

As a result, the house reads as a minimalist volume, with rammed-earth walls punctuated by large sliding-glass and perforated-metal panels. Dagmar used these retractable elements to create a constant play of light and shadow, blurring the boundaries between the home and the surrounding jungle-covered hills.

Outdoor sequences extend along both flanks of the interior, while a seemingly weightless platform – reached via floating concrete slabs – marks the entrance and shelters the bathroom below. Moving through the living space and kitchen, one emerges onto a ground-level terrace with a built-in grill, its horizontality anchored by the landscape. From here, a sculptural corten steel staircase leads down to the infinity pool, while another ascends to the rooftop terrace, completing a fluid choreography of open-air living.

The upper-level living area, anchored in the centre by a concrete kitchen island, fully opens onto the ocean and doubles as a shaded terrace that invites the breeze. The wall of cabinetry, with its laser-cut steel doors, becomes a luminous object at night, casting patterns that resemble a starlit sky. The effect continues on the ground floor: bedroom doors glow like the moon, blending reflections of real stars with those cast within and connecting the home to its surroundings and the sky.

Much of the house remains discreetly hidden by the jungle foliage. The lower level, which houses the bedrooms and a bathroom, is visible only from a private part of the garden.

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