Designing for wellness: How architecture shapes how we feel

Wellness has become one of the defining forces in architecture and hospitality today, and at LOOP, it is not a trend we are chasing. It is a principle we have built into, quite literally, every project we design.

For us, wellness in architecture is not a spa or a yoga deck added at the end of a plan. It starts earlier, in the orientation of a building, the way air moves through a room, the material under bare feet, the view that meets you the moment you wake up. Good architecture, done with intention, is one of the most direct ways to support how a person feels, physically and mentally, inside a space.

What does wellness architecture actually mean?

Wellness architecture is design that puts human wellbeing at the center of every decision: natural light, airflow, movement, connection to the outdoors, and materials that feel good to be around. It draws from biophilic design, the idea that people are healthier and calmer when they are close to nature, even indoors.

In practice, this looks like operable windows instead of sealed glass, courtyards that pull breeze through a home, native materials like bamboo and reclaimed wood, and architecture with clear sightlines to trees, water, or sky. It is less about adding wellness amenities and more about removing the barriers between people and the natural conditions around them.

Yoga Ranch – Nomadic. Nosara, Costa Rica.

Why wellness and sustainability are the same conversation

At LOOP, we do not separate wellness from sustainability. They come from the same design questions: How does this building respond to its climate? How much energy does it take to keep people comfortable? What does it feel like to live inside it, day after day?

Passive design strategies, cross ventilation, deep overhangs, shaded courtyards, orientation to prevailing wind, reduce a building's dependence on air conditioning while making interiors more pleasant to inhabit. Natural and local materials lower embodied carbon while aging with texture and warmth instead of wearing out. A pool positioned to catch afternoon light does double duty: it lowers energy needs for heating and turns into the best room in the house.

Wellness, done this way, is not a luxury layered on top of sustainable design. It is the outcome of it.

Wellness in practice: projects rooted in this idea

Maloca

Designed by IBUKU in collaboration with LOOP in Nosara, is architecture designed entirely around presence. As a bamboo pavilion built for yoga, meditation, and gathering, its structure is the wellness experience. Bamboo's warmth, the open geometry that lets light move through the day, and the pavilion's relationship to the surrounding tree canopy all work together so that stepping inside changes how a person breathes and settles.

Sendero Hotel

One of our Leading Hotels of the World in Central America, treats wellness as part of daily life rather than a separate offering. Its yoga salon and fitness spaces sit within the same design language as the guest rooms and common areas: open, breathable, and rooted in place. Guests move fluidly between rest, movement, and the surrounding landscape, which is precisely the point.

Fermata Hotel

At Hotel Fermata in Santa Teresa, wellness takes its cue from the beach itself. The spa, pool, and beachfront positioning were designed to work with the site's natural rhythm, sun, salt air, and horizon line, rather than against it. Recently opened and named to the Travel + Leisure It List 2026, Fermata reflects how a hospitality project can offer genuine restoration when the architecture gets out of nature's way instead of competing with it.

Sendero Villas

Extends this same thinking into residential-style hospitality. Each villa is designed for slower mornings and longer evenings outdoors, with architecture that frames the landscape rather than shutting it out. It is a model for how wellness can live in longer-stay, more private settings without losing the sense of place.

The Rancho at Nomadic

The rancho at Nomadic Hotel in Guiones was designed as a space that shifts with its use, opening up for a surf theory session in the morning and settling into a sanctuary for a yoga retreat by afternoon. LOOP's scope centered on the rancho itself, an open, adaptable structure meant for rest, gathering, and play. It is a good example of how a single wellness-focused space, done well, can hold several rhythms of a day without losing its sense of calm.

Residential work

Across our residential projects, wellness shows up in the everyday details: a pool positioned to catch the last light of the day, cross ventilation that keeps a home comfortable without mechanical cooling, and material choices, wood, stone, natural textiles, that ground a house in its surroundings. Sustainable architecture and a home that genuinely feels good to live in are, for us, the same design brief.

Why this matters now

Costa Rica has long been a reference point for a life built around nature, and wellness-driven design is a natural extension of that identity. As more travelers and homeowners look for spaces that actively support how they feel, architecture that is both sustainable and restorative is no longer a niche request. It is becoming the standard people expect.

While Costa Rica is where this thinking took shape for us, it is not bound to one place. Climate, light, and site conditions change from region to region, but the underlying approach, designing with nature instead of against it, translates anywhere. We work internationally, and the same principles that guide a bamboo pavilion in Nosara can inform a courtyard house in a different climate or a hospitality project on another coast entirely.

At LOOP, this is the throughline across our residential and hospitality work: architecture that takes care of people because it was designed to take care of the place they are in.

Yoga wellness space – Sendero Hotel. Nosara, Costa Rica.