Plaza Central — Gateway Point of Entry, Las Catalinas

The roughly 20,000 SF mixed-use Plaza Central Building sits on a steep incline in Las Catalinas, a car-free walkable beach town under development along the coast of the Pacific Ocean in the Guanacaste Province of northwest Costa Rica. Finished in 2017, the building's construction cost was approximately $7 million. Envisioned as a compact, car-free, and fully walkable town, couched in a unique organic master plan, designed by Douglas Duany, Las Catalinas was established in 2006 by Charles Brewer, founder of MindSpring Enterprises, an American Internet service provider. The ground-up new town, and the Plaza Central Building, foster a way of life that favors human connection and interaction through a wide array of winding pedestrian streets, public plazas, social gathering places, open air houses, apartments, shops, and restaurants. No lots are rectangular, making for unique floor plans and street frontages. The Plaza Central Building’s construction is hand made by local craftsmen, still skilled in the building arts. The building's site is multifaceted like the home sites to fashion irregular streets and piazzas. In addition, the site's steep incline permits a walkout lower level of shops facing the Pacific on a skinny pedestrian street. The two long sides of the building are both concave, forming a bow tie plan. The East Elevation faces the main plaza and gateway to the project, so its sweeping curve articulates as a bending single building form that welcomes newly arrived visitors. Paza Central Building Location Map North The West, Pacific-facing, Elevation, on the other hand, abuts a skinny twisting street. The build-to line parallels the twists, guiding the façade into a sweep of angular shapes. Grabbing the opportunity, the facets articulate into separate buildings. The shapes add to the intimate discovery of the narrow street, lined with the look of multiple buildings both sides. The two end "buildings" of the Plaza Central Building relate to the two open spaces, which bookend the building. Through different approaches, all sides engage their respective unique contexts, with the goal of defining the more important public domain.