Kasiiya is not a hotel. Kasiiya is part of nature. 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. Our intention throughout the project 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 and nails.

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.Constructed from mainly local natural materials, each tent offers its guests total comfort with bespoke furniture designed by AW². Assessible 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.

AWARDS

Andrew Harper’s Hideaway report Editor’s Choice Awards 2022
Winner in the Favorite Ecolodge category
Artful Living Magazine, 2021
Listed in the World’s top 5 Biophilic Design Hotels
Liv Hospitality Design Awards 2020
Winner in the Architectural Design – Eco Friendly category
The Green Good Design Award by The Chicago Athenaeum 2021
Winner of the Award
Build Architecture Awards 2020
Winner in the Best Eco-Hotel category
Dezeen Award 2020

Highly commended in the hospitality building category
The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design International Architecture Awards 2020
Winner of the Award
Build Architecture Awards 2020
Winner in the Best Eco-Hotel category
AFEX Grand Prix d’Architecture 2020
Nominated for the Award
Hôtel & Lodge Awards 2020
Kasiiya Papagayo shortlisted in the Ecoresponsable category
The International Hotel & Property Awards 2020
Shortlisted in the Best hotel under 50 rooms (Americas, Caribbean) category
FX International Design Award 2019
Shortlisted for the Hotels category
Shortlist pour World Interiors News Award 2019
Hotel Interiors category

Eco-lodge with 14 tents

2 000 m²

Kasiiya Papagayo
4 km west of Riu Guanacaste hotel
Guanacaste, Costa Rica

Photography credit:Pierre Baëlen – Sergio Pucci – Kenny Viese

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