The goal for the Rincon Settlement Community Master Plan was to develop a sequence of patterns that would sustain life and health in both the natural and built environment, thus helping to shape a living community.

The site, a former cattle farm in the mountains near one of the fastest growing regions of Costa Rica, had been severely degraded due to unsustainable development practices. Our challenge was to create a new community that would both offer residents diverse living spaces and help to regenerate the area’s natural resources.

The resulting development is centered around a Market Center, the active social heart of the community and the place where residents meet, interact, dine, and do business. Twelve surrounding neighborhoods (“barrios”) contain the settlement’s 675 living units, organized in clusters which offer varying degrees of social connectivity and seclusion. The plan is flexible, allowing for generative, sustainable growth as the community expands.