This is a private library which showcases detailed woodwork with peculiar jointed connections. The bookshelves are a marvelous way of emphasizing the perpetually braced frame that this architect, Gianni Botsford, employs for his lateral structural device (I've been talking about this a lot, haven't I?).
By coupling indigenous methods and materials with modern technologies, Botsford has created a pavilion-like studio setting for a writer in Costa Rica with this design. The finished product is both livable and highly functional, and it's stilted presence off the ground allows for the passage of winds to circulate over and underneath, while cooling the underside of the entire structure simultaneously.
The wood is sourced from local timber, and sits on similarly sized wooden stilts (each of which transfers into a small concrete pad foundation at the base joints). Roof beams up to 10 m long and .355 m deep allow for an interior with no vertical columns, which frees up the circulation space inside.
The pitch of the roof is singular and continuous, and elevates toward the sea shore to block out excessive gusts. The interior is completely louvered as well, to mitigate wind effects caused by lighter components and cladding in the enclosure (as in glass).
Set a short distance along a raised walkway, a second smaller pavilion mirrors the first. This contains sleeping quarters and a bathroom. The cladding is the same (as in the corrugated steel building) and continues to use local construction materials. The overall finished product is both elegant, somewhat foreign and yet very familiar.
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