Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Aug 04, 2025

Archwerk.cz and Formafatal Collaborate on Coco Guest Pods at the Art Villas Costa Rica

Archwerk.cz and Formafatal Collaborate on Coco Guest Pods at the Art Villas Costa Rica

Collaborating on the Coco guest pods at the Art Villas Costa Rica, a small resort at Bahia Ballena, Archwerk.cz and Formafatal are energized by its rainforest setting.

Over two decades ago-long before founding a design company that specialized in retail spaces for multinational brands-the Czech entrepreneur Filip Žák visited Costa Rica for the first time. He was in his early 20s, a backpacker, only just setting out on a lifetime of travel for both pleasure and work that has, to date, taken him to some 70 countries. After selling the company in 2014, “I finally had a chance to decide what to do with the rest of my life,” Žák reports. “And it left me the money I needed to build.” Žák and his wife had already started laying plans for when that freedom finally came. They wanted to build a small resort someplace tropical but not overtaken by tourism. Someplace politically stable, with rich biodiversity and wildlife, and a culture and language different from their own Central European heritage but also recognizable. Costa Rica, with its lush jungle, mountains, and wild Pacific coast, seemed an obvious choice. Nearly three weeks of intensive land hunting there led to Bahia Ballena’s Playa Hermosa, near the town of Uvita, where they purchased a 5-acre lot on an undulating, forested hillside with views to the ocean below.



The pods sit on steel columns well clear of the lush ground vegetation. Photography by BoysPlayNice.

After building a brutalist villa for his family-an assemblage of concrete slabs, like ruins amidst the greenery-and a rentable steel-frame house he calls the Atelier, Žák became, as he puts it, “obsessed with tree houses.” Flipping through a book on the subject, he spotted a never-built Swiss project comprising volcano-shape pods set in the Alpine woods, and immediately saw the possibility of adapting the scheme for his rainforest retreat, which he had named the Art Villas Costa Rica. Exploring the idea further led him to Martin Kloda and Hana Procházková, young Czech architects who founded their firm Archwerk.cz in 2012.



Uncanvassed sections of the frame create the sensation of sleeping in the treetops. Photography by BoysPlayNice.

Kloda and Procházková have built their practice around natural materials and made construction an essential part of the design process. Their work is based in simple geometric forms that they extrapolate out with the simplest possible components: wood beams, hammers, and nails. “We’re not craftsmen-we’re just architects,” Procházková explains. “Because we usually build with our own hands, the designs have to be straightforward.” For Žák’s little colony of tree houses, the idea was to create structures that were not only responsive to the landscape but also “something that could be built by anyone,” Kloda says.

Sitting high on steel columns, the five ovoid forms they devised-UV-resistant canvas stretched over teak frames-look like coconuts dangling above the canopy or buoyed lightly on a sea of a vegetation. Hence their collective moniker: the Coco.



Its custom headboard is woven from cotton cord and straps. Photography by BoysPlayNice.

The pods are connected by light-as-air catwalks and stairs fashioned from teak, expanded metal, and steel, an infrastructure designed by another Czech firm, Formafatal, which also executed the Coco interiors-as it had for the two previous houses on the property. Founder Dagmar Štepánová, a trained engineer and architect, first visited Costa Rica seven years ago. “From that moment I dreamt of building something there that would follow the local atmosphere,” she says. Shortly after, she got her first commission from Žák.



The pods are carefully oriented to allow for maximum openness while providing necessary privacy. Photography by BoysPlayNice.

For the brutalist-inspired family home, Štepánová used wood, water, and abundant greenery to bring nature into the spare, geometric interiors. She took the same approach for the Atelier down the hill, a Miesian pavilion clad in rust-color perforated-aluminum panels and topped by a green roof that makes it dissolve into the forest. For the Coco group-four small guest pods and a larger one for a kitchen and communal dining area-the challenge was reconciling opposites: how to create something both minimal and luxurious, radically open yet warm and private, a podium lifted over the forest and a nest settled close among its branches.



Natural rattan pendant fixtures are augmented with LED spotlights above the custom table, which is flanked by teak-and-rattan stools. Photography by BoysPlayNice.

Each guest pod encircles a slightly raised central platform on which a queen-size bed is set against a headboard woven from colorful cotton cord and straps that evoke the tangled vines of the rainforest. Overhead, a canopy of mosquito netting reads as a delicate sculpture in its own right, echoing the form of the surrounding canvas structure. Dressing and bathing areas with cement-tile flooring are located around the perimeter where, by rolling up the canvas wall, soaking in a freestanding terrazzo tub becomes an outdoor experience. The world beyond the slender teak frame-forest and fog, toucans and monkeys, the sound of the sea below, the wind in the treetops above-is distilled to its perceptible essence in a voyage through the realm of the senses. “That’s the fun part of architecture,” Žák says: “To explore.”



The fifth and largest pod houses a communal kitchen and dining area. Photography by BoysPlayNice.



Pod 1’s shower has cement tile. Photography by BoysPlayNice.



The custom mosquito net in pod 3 echoes the form of the enclosing structure. Photography by BoysPlayNice.



Built-in painted-plywood shelving outfits the dressing area. Photography by BoysPlayNice.



Pod 2’s custom teak bed is framed by woven rattan sconces, polished-nickel nightstands, and steel columns that rise through the floor, also teak. Photography by BoysPlayNice.



A soaking tub offers a partially alfresco bathing experience when the canvas panel is rolled up. Photography by BoysPlayNice.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
Tesla Seeks Shareholder Approval for $29 Billion Compensation Package for Elon Musk
Nvidia is cutting prices on its RTX 50-series graphics cards after sales slowed and inventories piled up
Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to Minimum-Security Prison Amid Ongoing DOJ Discussions
U.S. Tariffs Surge to Highest Levels in Nearly a Century Under Second Trump Term
Matt Taibbi Slams Media for Role in Russiagate Narrative
Pilots Call for Mental Health Support Without Stigma
All Five Trapped Miners Found Dead After El Teniente Mine Collapse
Ong Beng Seng Pleads Guilty in Corruption Case Linked to Former Singapore Transport Minister
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
Italy Fines Shein One Million Euros for Misleading Sustainability Claims
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
Declassified Annex Links Soros‑Affiliated Officials and Clinton Campaign to ‘Russiagate’ Narrative
UK's Online Safety Law: A Front for Censorship
Nationwide Protests Erupt in Brazil Demanding Presidential Resignation
Parents Abandon Child at Barcelona Airport Over Passport Issue
Mystery Surrounds Death of Brazilian Woman with iPhones Glued to Her Body
Bus Driver Discovers Toddler Hidden in Suitcase in New Zealand
Switzerland Celebrates 734 Years of Independence Amid Global Changes
U.S. Opens Official Investigation into Former Trump Prosecutor Jack Smith
Leaked audio of Canada's new PM Mark Carney admitting the truth about the Net Zero agenda: "We're gonna make a lot of money off of this."
China Enforces Comprehensive Ban on Cryptocurrency Activities
Absolutely 100% Realistic EVO Series Doll by EXDOLL (Chinese Company) used mainly for carnal purposes
World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab: "In this new world, we must accept... total transparency. You have to get used to it. You have to behave accordingly. But if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't be afraid."
Meet Mufti Hamid Patel, head of Office for Standards in Education in Pakistan
George Soros tells the World Economic Forum: "President Trump is a con man and the ultimate narcissist, who wants the world to revolve around him."
Hamas are STARVING the hostages.
Decline in Tourism in Majorca Amidst Ongoing Anti-Tourism Protests
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
Poland Begins Excavation at Dziemiany After New Clue to World War II‑Era Nazi Treasure
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Threatens Canada with Tariffs Over Palestinian State Recognition
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Trump Sues Murdoch in “Heavyweight Bout”: Lawsuit Over Alleged Epstein Letter Sets Stage for Courtroom Showdown
Germany Enters Fiscal Crisis as Cabinet Approves €174 Billion in New Debt
Trump Administration Finalizes Broad Tariff Increases on Global Trade Partners
J.K. Rowling Limits Public Engagements Citing Safety Fears
JD.com Launches €2.2 Billion Bid for German Electronics Retailer Ceconomy
Azerbaijan Proceeds with Plan to Legalise Casinos on Artificial Islands
Former Judge Charged After Drunk Driving Crash Kills Comedian in Brazil
Jeff Bezos hasn’t paid a dollar in taxes for decades. He makes billions and pays $0 in taxes, LEGALLY
China Increases Use of Exit Bans Amid Rising U.S. Tensions
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Procter & Gamble to Raise U.S. Prices to Offset One‑Billion‑Dollar Tariff Cost
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
Botswana Seeks Controlling Stake in De Beers as Anglo American Prepares Exit
Trump Administration Proposes Repeal of Obama‑Era Endangerment Finding, Dismantling Regulatory Basis for CO₂ Emissions Limits
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
A family has been arrested in the UK for displaying the British flag
Mel Gibson refuses to work with Robert De Niro, saying, "Keep that woke clown away from me."
×