SARCO Architects wins seventh International Property Award

This marks our firm’s fifth winning project in the International Property Awards. Previously our Cap Limon Luxury Club Residences Resort in the Dominican Republic received three awards in the Best Leisure Architecture and Best Leisure Development categories (2017-2018). Renowned Casa Magayon, pictured above, was also awarded the “5-Star, Best Architecture Single Residence Costa Rica (2016-17)”. For 2012-2013, the Bartlett Residence also won the “5-Star, Best Architecture Single Residence Costa Rica” and the Cielo Mar Residence received the “Highly Commended, Architecture Single Residence Costa Rica (2012-2013)”.

We design and build with the environment, not against it, flowing with the land in an organic form. Our projects provide seamless indoor-outdoor connections, and much more. The warm weather is so beautiful in Costa Rica and the other tropical locations where we work internationally, such as the Dominican Republic and Panama.

Our homes encourage the inhabitants to spend time outdoors. Making the most of every outdoor space, every pool, patio and porch becomes an experience. A courtyard can be a circulation space, where inhabitants pass through daily and drink their morning coffee. Sustainable luxury architecture is our core approach to our projects.

Paired with environmentally friendly materials and energy efficient systems, we create both sustainability and luxury in all our residences. Read on to find out which of these homes has a 90-foot long pool and another that travels straight into the main living space. 

Built on an extreme slope, the building flows along the terrain. We embraced this challenge as an opportunity for indoor-outdoor connection and flow. Establishing different levels for the home, there are three main modules. As you come down the steps from the master bedroom, you effortlessly flow through the seating area by the pool — the main outdoor social space. Why have a hallway in paradise? Instead, the design intermingles the indoor spaces and outdoor spaces. 

All balconies are right off the bedrooms, and not just for show. They are very wide and extensive because they double as a sitting area on top and provide sufficient shade for the other bedrooms or areas below. Duality. Every living space and sleeping space features an outdoor area through glass doors. So anybody from any point in the house can easily access the outside, enjoy privacy, a glass of wine, and dip into the pool whenever they like. The glass doors for this house are so minimalistic, so clear, you almost don’t see the doors — achieving our main goal, to draw you to the natural wonders of Costa Rica. 



The lap pool is the core of the home. What makes this pool design so unique to other projects is it’s tucked between the living/social and sleeping modules, just a step away from most areas of the home. The pool is, in essence, its own space. Depending on the time of day, the buildings provide natural shade over the pool. This way, it doesn’t need to be covered. Around one o’clock in the afternoon it’ll get some direct sunlight, but the rest of the day it’s nice and cool, a real accomplishment in a tropical environment. 

Solar orientation gives Casa Aramara a natural energy efficiency. Both the social and the sleeping module have screens that filter the afternoon sun, as to not let the hot temperatures inside. The roof surfaces contribute to the efficiency, too, fitted with Polyiso insulation, which has a very high R value, and an additional layer over the ceiling cavity. In addition, the high-end window systems from the Cor Vision product line from Spain-based CORTIZO allows us to use very efficient insulated glass with a minimalistic esthetic. All come together to provide a highly energy efficient environment for a premiere sustainable luxury architecture example.

A full resort design located on the north coast of the Dominican Republic, all designs for the resort project where done with nature and views as the main focus for the Cap Limón Luxury Club Residences. We designed six different model residences on the resort, all with sustainable luxury architecture as the main language. Focused on the outdoor spaces, each residence is designed to allow for seamless indoor-outdoor experiences and enjoyment of the outdoors and the ocean views. In the case of Carey Residences, each level of the building is an independent 3-bedroom luxury residence — including its own private swimming pool.

Carey Residences are a unique kind of luxury resort project. They are designed to break the mold of the typical apartment building, and the usual boxy-looking results. Carey Residences have been designed as a 3-story building intended to adapt to hillside conditions. Each level is slid back from the story below it, allowing the building to adapt naturally to the slope with minimal earth moving and intervention. In addition, all outdoor spaces face north, always in the shade, harnessing the gentle ocean breezes. As with Casa Aramara, vertical screens shade the side of the homes where there is more direct exposure to the sun. This adds comfort throughout the day and night.

Aesthetically, we continued the consistent thread in all our projects of indoor-outdoor connection. Expansive floor to ceiling glass surfaces reveal gorgeous jungle views and soothing ocean views. Earthy materials alongside modern ones — stone and glass, wood and exposed steel — lend to a modern yet tropical feel. 

Copey, Taina, and Minke Residences, each named after indigenous items from the north coast area of the Dominican Republic are all six-bedroom luxury residences, each of them designed for specific terrain configuration types identified by us over the entire resort area. As we worked from the very part as an integral part of the land planning of the resort, we provided a unique approach by identifying terrain configurations and designing the home models according to this.  

The resort would be highly environmentally friendly by using this approach as it eliminates the typical leveling of terrain sites in order to build generic models which need flat pieces of land. One of the main goals of the project brief was to create a new language with sustainable luxury architecture at its core.

Cajuil Residence is a four-bedroom luxury residence taking advantage of all the characteristics of its bigger brothers, and the Maguá Bungalows were designed as amazing open-area smaller two-bedroom units still with the luxuries of the much larger models. Maguá Bungalows would take up the beautiful jungle views of some of the more difficult areas in the resort, by using its small footprint to provide flexibility to place them into the natural terrain.

To make the Bartlett Residence more energy efficient, inclined steel columns extend the roof to protect glazed surfaces from the hot sun. Slanted columns really create the spirit of the home. This feature creates a unique connection to the outdoors. Due to the extended roof and lower roofline, it feels protected — like living in a tree house. 

Extensive outdoor spaces all around enhance this feeling. You are up so high and so close to the trees, seated there it’s as if you’re perched upon the tree canopy yourself. Under the main living area is the pool, with a swim lane that travels inside the house.