3D Walkabout
Given Playa Viva's climate and topography, the best place to build and live is on or near the beach. However, the beach front at Playa Viva is made of sand dunes, an ecologically sensitive strip of land. How do you build on sand dunes in a way that not only limits the damage to this ecologically sensitive area, but also strengthens the ecosystem? The answer -- tree houses.
Ayrie Cunliffe, our Master Designer, postulated that the sand dunes where held in place by a vegetative network, a virtual fabric of life that kept the sand on the dunes from blowing away. So how do you reinforce this fabric and still build luxury homes? Using traditional building methods, the "normal" technique would be to put buildings on piers or pilings, either made of wood or concrete, both of which would damage the sensitive plant life that comprises the infrastructure of the dunes.
Ayrie's suggestion was to transplant palms from the adjacent coconut grove and use these as "living piers". The root ball of the palm tree becomes part of the vegetative fabric and helps keep the dunes in place. The palm tree is also a renewable resource for piers – we simply regenerate the trees in our backyard. The same is true for the palm fronds, which comprise the casita's thatched Palapa roofs.
The Master Plan for Playa Viva includes up to 60 Casitas, 13 lots for homes, town square and boutique hotel with up to 120 rooms plus additional infrastructure for energy, water, activities and operations. When our design build architect, Michel Lewis, first heard the idea of building tree houses from living palm trees, he thought we were crazy, but as an ecological architect with 20 years experience building in Mexico, he also knew a great idea when he heard it. So in January of 2007, we added tree house expert, Michael Garnier to our team. Michael is not only a tree house expert; he also built and operates his own tree house resort in Oregon.
We developed three designs built around different structural engineering concepts. Once they were built, we stress tested each design, seeing how they perform under the strain of maximum loads. The test results surpassed our expectations, with test platforms holding 4000 kg (close to 10,000 lbs), which is more than a sufficient load to support a tree house full of occupants and furniture.
The tree house design provides:
- Regenerative buildings that strengthen the land they're built on.
- Structurally-sound and aesthetically engaging buildings for occupants
- A unique offering for co-owners to share with family and friends
We offer several types of Tree houses in 1-bedroom, 2-bedroom and 3-bedroom configurations.
1-Bedroom Casitas are best for small families just starting out. A small alcove provides extra sleeping space for small children. They are also perfect for "empty-nesters" that are buying fractionals for use by the rest of the family. The use of concurrent fractionals are perfect for this type of owner who want to invite other family members or friends to join them in adjacent casitas as well as use Common Area sleeping porch for invited guests.
2-Bedroom Casitas are perfect for the family with small children who can share a room. Parents get all the privacy they need but comfort in knowing the kids are just next door. A large bathroom is shared by both bedrooms and large porches provide plenty of space to spread out and hang out. Again, the Common Area sleeping porch provides extra space as kids get older and want more privacy and distance, as well as for hosting additional friends.
3-Bedroom Casitas are for larger families that need more than 1 room for all the siblings to share. The master bedroom has a private bath and two smaller bedrooms are just a little further away providing more privacy for all. The two smaller bedrooms share a bath. Again, porches provide plenty of space to hang out and swing on a hammock. The Common Areas provide even more space to spread out or accommodate friends, family and invited guests.
