INNOVATION FROM ANCESTRALITY
Manglar Bioarchitecture was founded in 2019 as the convergence of two paths united by a shared commitment: to transform the way we conceive, design, and inhabit space. Rebeca Chang, founder of DAO Arquitectura, brings over a decade of experience in sustainable and collaborative design. Francisco Vásquez, who has led RE Arquitectura since 2009, contributes more than 15 years of experience developing projects of various scales with a strong focus on environmental and regenerative practices. As consultants in numerous interdisciplinary processes, they began a collaboration rooted in crafting architectural solutions that challenge convention through the mindful use of resources and deep respect for the environment.
Based in Costa Rica—a tropical, biodiverse land—Manglar responds to the growing call for more honest, resilient, and regenerative architecture. We work with natural techniques and materials such as earth, bamboo, natural fibers, and wood, blending ancestral wisdom with contemporary research and innovation. Our aim is not only to reduce environmental impact, but to actively contribute to ecological balance through the spaces we build.
We believe in architecture that listens to its surroundings and honors the intersection between the natural world and human experience. Like the mangrove—an ecosystem that protects, regenerates, and sustains life—we design spaces that offer shelter, foster connection, and nurture a renewed relationship between people and nature.
Pillars
SUBVERSIVE
SUSTAINABILITY
We advocate for disruptive, radically honest sustainability that questions the status quo and challenges traditional building practices through strategies, materials and designs.
Regenerative
MATTER
We apply diverse design, construction, bioclimatic strategies and the use of natural, renewable and local resources, designed to integrate with the biological cycles of the planet that drive the regeneration of the ecosystems involved.
CONTEMPORARY
VERNACULARITY
As designers in a global reality that is based in a local context, we believe that the value of rescuing traditional architecture is not in the form, but in the substance and function: the reinterpretation of vernacular wisdom allows us to rescue techniques, ideas and materials of each place, enriching them with a look of innovation, a timeless design with cultural identity, a hybrid of the present and the eternal.
BIOARCHITECTURE
IN EVOLUTION
Bioarchitecture conceives the built habitat as a living organism that evolves and adapts. This entails a continuous cycle of experimentation with materials, techniques and forms. We apply ancestral and avant-garde knowledge to each project according to the location, interweaving the needs of the space with those of the human being who will inhabit it and the relationship of these needs over time.
TEAM
REBECA CHANG UGARTE
PARTNER & CO-DIRECTOR Master's degree in Eco-Architecture and Bio-Construction. University of Girona, Spain. Degree in Architecture from the University of Costa Rica in 2013, with a specialization in Project Management from the TEC (Technological Institute of Costa Rica). Winner of the "International Grand Prize and National Biennial Prize at the 2018 International Architecture Biennial" from the CACR (College of Architects of Costa Rica). Design studio professor and researcher at the University of Costa Rica. She has also given lectures and workshops at various universities and self-managed spaces for promoting bio-construction.
FRANCISCO VÁSQUEZ MAY
PARTNER & CO-DIRECTOR Degree in Architecture from the University of Costa Rica in 2009. His training focuses on design and construction techniques using wood, bamboo, and raw earth in Costa Rica, Mexico, and Colombia. Winner of the "International Grand Prize and National Biennial Prize at the 2018 International Architecture Biennial" from the CACR (College of Architects of Costa Rica). He has exhibited at the UCR School of Fine Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MADC). He has also led workshops and presented at venues such as the FIA (National Institute of International Art), the State University of New York (SUNY-ESF), the University of San Carlos de Guatemala, and SEED Mexico City.
Awards
-
International Grand Prize and National Biennial Prize at the 2018 International Architecture Biennial of the CACR. Project: Franceschi Containers.
-
Honorable Mention. "Habitat, Innovation, and Wood" Architectural Preliminary Design Competition, Low-Cost Housing Category. Embassy of Switzerland, ONF, ICOMADERA, CFIA 2021
-
Honorable Mention. San Lucas Island National Park Visitor Center Architectural Preliminary Design Competition, CFIA 2021
-
Winner of the Comex Color Award, VII International Student Architecture Biennial 2014, Student Architectural Design Category, Project: School for Superheroes.
Publications
