CRIME WRITER’S THRILLER 11/07/07

Words :: Will Jones // Images :: Christian Richters

U.S. crime writer I.I.Magdalen needed to get away from it all. This octogenarian novelist, whose main character is globe trotting Private Eye Henning Forsell, has himself travelled the world in a career that has included work in counter-intelligence, stints on European newspapers and a professorship in journalism and history in Boston. However, he needed somewhere relaxing to settle and the tropical paradise of the coast of Costa Rica beckoned.
But Magdalen wanted more than your average beachside shack. “He wanted to create something that would best suit his lifestyle: his love of books, fondness of the piano and, most of all, need to be ‘near to’ his surroundings,” says architect Gianni Botsford.
Magdalen was interested in Botsford’s work, after seeing the architect’s Light House and his rigorous approach to its unusual site in London, UK: it won awards for its innovative use of daylight via a clever shaded glass roof and no windows on a site completely surrounded by neighbouring buildings. And so, Botsford visited Costa Rica in August 2005 to find the perfect plot on which to build this exquisitely detailed pair of pavilions called Casa Kike.
The buildings, with an adjoining 46’ long walkway, are positioned between the existing trees on the site. However, their orientation and twist is also devised to provide maximum shade to the interiors throughout the day and create privacy from neighbouring houses but also ‘say hello’ to visitors. “We wanted to create a retreat,” says Botsford, “so the pavilions had to be private and yet closing off the surroundings would have been contrary to engaging with the surroundings. The building fits neatly between the existing trees and its end elevations open both onto the jungle and coast but, at the same time, when inside you are shielded from neighbours and the public.”

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