We developed our own model: every decision gives equal weight to people, the environment and the economy. This does not mean always choosing the most environmentally friendly option or the one with the greatest social impact, but the one that strikes the best balance among all three. Our purpose is to show that truly sustainable business is possible.
Circularity and integration with the living environment, natural light, cross-ventilation, elevated structures and natural materials came together, through the innovation and creativity of Benjamín Saxe of Studio Saxe, to create a masterpiece called Tree60 Puerto Viejo.
Tree60 is located in Cocles, 2 km from the beach, within a biological corridor that connects the Kekӧldi Indigenous Reserve with the private Los Guardianes reserve and, from there, with the Gandoca-Manzanillo Biological Reserve. The property covers one hectare of young secondary forest, with a deliberately low building density to keep our intervention to a minimum.
Every tree on the property was identified by species and geolocated, allowing us to place each villa while respecting its surroundings. The foundations were dug by hand over several months, and up to 25 people carried each steel piece, to keep heavy machinery out of the forest as much as possible. Before building, we planted and nurtured more than 100 native trees; after building, we reforested even more, and we asked the Sloth Conservation Foundation for help protecting the canopy connections that sloths and monkeys rely on.
The villas are lightweight structures on piles. They place less load on the soil, allow runoff water to pass through, and let vegetation regenerate beneath them. We adapted to the mountain, not the other way around.
Guadua angustifolia bamboo is the star of the design. A Costa Rican family-owned company, Bambutico, grows, processes and installs it from national plantations.
In our concrete, we replace part of the sand with Resin8, a sand made from crushed plastic recovered from rivers and industry, a material that can no longer be recycled and that would end up, at best, in a landfill and, at worst, in our rivers and seas. Tree60 contains about one ton of this plastic.
In the South Caribbean, rain is part of the landscape, and the reason for its lushness. We designed the roof of our firepit to channel water, and we harvest rainwater. In addition, each villa includes glass that can open to the forest or close and be air-conditioned. We use efficient equipment and air conditioning with low global-warming-potential refrigerants that do not harm the ozone layer. We also run on Costa Rica's electricity grid, which generates up to 99% of its power from renewable sources.
A wildlife garden and trails for observing birds and other animals. Nature is the reason visitors come: if it is lost, so is the reason to travel here.
All of the project's wastewater is treated in a biodigester, which breaks down organic matter and generates biogas that can be used for cooking, washing and other purposes. Constructed wetland planters then complement the purification, and the water leaves practically free of contaminants. This system is uncommon in the area, and we believe it is part of the solution to wastewater management challenges in the Caribbean. Organic waste is composted and the rest is managed in an integrated way.
