About
An architecture and urban design office with more than 25 years in Costa Rica
LDB Arquitectura designs buildings, public spaces and master plans for companies, institutions, municipalities, communities and families. It has worked on more than 150 projects, mostly in Costa Rica. It has also taken part in international competitions in Chile, Argentina, Mali and Senegal.
The office is led by architect Luis Diego Barahona.
See also architecture for offices, retail and hotels in Costa Rica, or get a first figure with the cost calculator.
A way of thinking
Every commission starts by reading what already exists on the site, who uses it, where the air comes in and where the water runs. From that reading we look for the right intervention, the one that improves the whole without erasing what already works.
A building shapes a street, a street shapes a neighborhood and a neighborhood changes the way a city is lived. That is why we give the territory and the detail the same attention.
«His architecture is understood as a process. Not as a finished, isolated object, but as a device that keeps extending its restructuring capacity through the city and the territory.»
Josep Maria Montaner, architect and critic, Barcelona
It all starts from one conviction. A building makes sense when people grow and develop in it and when it adds to their individual and collective lives. That is why we see every project as a quality investment that adds value, with a firm commitment to the best architecture.
The essences
They are questions the office asks of everything it designs, from a master plan to a handrail. They all share one working rule. No parameter without meaning and no metaphor without a parameter.
Create within what exists
What already works here and what is the smallest move that changes how the whole behaves?
The body first
Where is the body, where is the water and what does the hand touch?
Do more with fewer elements
What can be removed and where does the money go, in structure, roof, height and ground?
Shared before individual
What does this place bring together, for whom and who looks after it later?
The building ten years on
What happens to this when we are no longer here and how will we know?
From territory to detail
We review the site and the building in all their dimensions before proposing. There are 84 subtopics, from ecology and soil to light, texture and scent. We return to that reading at every stage of the project.
- TerritoryEcology, climate, soil and energy of the site.
- CityMobility, land use, urban image and community.
- BuildingSpace, form and function at the service of the people who use it.
- DetailLight, color, texture and the way each material comes together.
What we cover
Design
From schematic design to construction documents and specifications. This is the stage where the essences become concrete decisions.
Site inspection
We visit the site so that what is built matches what was designed, and we solve with the construction team what only shows up on site.
Permits
We prepare and follow up the permits before the municipality and the institutions each project requires.
Costs
A line-item cost estimate from the first stage, so every design decision has a visible cost. The Cost calculator gives a first reference.
Principal
Architect Luis Diego Barahona leads the office. His work focuses on buildings, public space and urban design. He was a visiting professor at ESARQ in Guadalajara, Mexico, and taught at the Escola da Cidade in São Paulo, Brazil. He has lectured in Costa Rica, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Brazil and Spain.
In his first decade of practice he combined design with spreading architecture through conferences, books and Revista Habitar. After his master’s degree at the ETSAB in Barcelona the office focused on built work and the city, with clients who come back with new commissions.
He has published more than 100 articles in specialized media. He was director of Revista Habitar and a member of the Urban Planning Commission, both of the CFIA, Costa Rica’s federated association of engineers and architects. His work has appeared in Domus, in Arquitectura Viva in Spain and with the publisher Actar in Barcelona, as well as in media from the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, the Netherlands and China.
Awards
Who we work with
International organizations
UNICEF and UN-Habitat.
Companies
Evertec, AutoStar and Findasense.
Public sector
MIVAH and the municipalities of San José, Santa Ana, Curridabat, Moravia, Pococí and Turrialba.
Communities
Neighborhood associations of Barrio Escalante and Barrio La California.
Publications
If you have land for a new project, a building to transform or a question about your neighborhood, write to us. The first conversation starts with what already exists.