Plaza Ojochal is a mixed-use health and wellness center in Ojochal, Osa, on Costa Rica’s southern Pacific coast, within walking distance of Bahía Ballena beach and its national park. The program brings together a training facility, healthy food café, spa, beauty salon, physiotherapy, traditional medicine center, and laboratory under a single roof — a concentration of services that did not previously exist at this scale in the area.

The design takes the site’s existing stream and mature trees as its point of departure, organizing the building around these natural elements rather than displacing them. Biophilic strategies govern the spatial layout, keeping vegetation, water, and natural light central to the experience of every space. Bioclimatic design for the tropical climate — cross-ventilation, shading, and thermal mass — reduces energy consumption while maintaining comfort without reliance on mechanical cooling.

The result is a building that frames the boundary between constructed and natural environment as the project’s primary architectural condition rather than a secondary concern.