Lookout Villa

A series of separate pavilions — arrival, living, sleeping, service — arranged along a narrow hilltop ridge in Guanacaste, each oriented to the Pacific view and the prevailing breeze.

Lookout Villa is positioned on a small hill in Guanacaste, oriented to command panoramic views across the Pacific Ocean from almost every space in the house. Rather than consolidating the programme into a single volume, the design breaks the residence into a series of separate pavilions arranged along the ridge — each one oriented to capture the view and the prevailing breeze, while maintaining a visual and physical connection to the whole. The site dictated the approach from the outset: a narrow hilltop ridge gave us a clear organisational logic, where the volumes follow the line of the land rather than sitting across it. Each pavilion is a distinct moment — arrival, living, sleeping, service — yet the sequence feels like a single, unhurried journey from one end of the house to the other, with the ocean always present.

The material palette is rooted in the region. Local volcanic stone clads the primary structural walls, its texture and warm tone anchoring the building to the hillside and creating continuity between built form and natural ground. Timber louvre facades filter the intense Guanacaste sun without closing the building off, casting shifting shadow patterns across interior floors and allowing cross-ventilation through every room. Between the volumes, open-air corridors and terraces become rooms in their own right: lookout points, pausing places, and channels for the breeze.

The interior approach sets the precision of high-end international design against the raw character of the architecture and the ease of the coast. Warm, light-toned timber ceilings soften the weight of the stone overhead, while premium quartzite surfaces bring a sleek, tactile quality to the living spaces. Pieces from Giorgetti, Roche Bobois, Miniforms, and Restoration Hardware sit alongside furniture and millwork made by Costa Rican craftspeople, neither dominating the other. A thread of deep blue runs through the home in custom rugs, upholstery, and decorative pillows woven into the bespoke millwork, giving continuity to rooms that each carry their own distinct character. Decorative lighting from Marset, Italamp, Bomma, and Santa & Cole is chosen with the precision of jewellery, introducing a soft sculptural quality against the weight of stone and timber. Custom furniture was designed specifically for the project and built locally. Every detail was curated by Inverse Project's interior design team.