Muffadal Saylawala

Casa Andalucía

A hillside B&B over the bay, rebuilt twice: once by choice, with bamboo and bottle walls, and once after an October 2017 storm brought the hill down.

At a glance

Role
Designer, engineer and general contractor
When
2016 to now; storm rebuild from October 2017
Where
The hills over the bay, San Juan del Sur
Team
A crew of 20, plus 10 to 12 more some weeks
Scope
Two redevelopments: a new cabin, then an emergency rebuild and redesign of the whole property
A drone view over Casa Andalucía's pool and tile roofs, the bay of San Juan del Sur and its headland beyond
Casa Andalucía, above the bay, San Juan del Sur, 2018.

Results

  • 3 to 8Rentable rooms and cabins: one room and two cabins at purchase, eight after the rebuild
  • Day 1Cash-flow positive from the first day
  • SavedThe main house, at risk of collapse after the 2017 landslide
  • 16Guests it sleeps today

We bought Casa Andalucía in 2016 for its hillside and its view of the bay. It had one room and two cabins, rented on Airbnb. I rebuilt it twice: once because I wanted to, and once because the hill came down.

The first rebuild

I turned a picnic area into a new cabin, with a bathroom of bamboo and colored glass bottles set in a sunburst around a round window. I took down a treehouse-style cabin and rebuilt it on a stronger foundation. Casa Andalucía paid its own way from the first day.

A bathroom wall of colored bottles set in a sunburst around a round window
The bottle-and-bamboo bathroom.

October 2017

Then a tropical storm came through Nicaragua. One by one, every original retaining wall on the property fell. There was a landslide. Trees came down on the cabin roofs. The main house at the top of the slope took damage to its foundation and was at real risk of collapse.

I became the designer, the general contractor and the engineer, in the rain. I did the calculations myself and ran an emergency rebuild with a crew of 20 men, plus 10 or 12 more some weeks just to move the earth from the landslide by hand, because there was no room on the slope for a machine. I was there every day. We saved the house.

An aerial view of a pool among tiled roofs, the town and bay of San Juan del Sur beyond
Casa Andalucía above the bay.

Building into the hill

Then I redesigned the whole property around the slope instead of on top of it. Load-bearing retaining walls hold the hill now, and I built the new cabins and storage rooms into those walls, along the contour. They have green roofs and thick earth mass, which help keep the rooms cool naturally. I added a yoga platform for 25 people, for retreats.

Casa Andalucía went from one room and two cabins to eight rooms and cabins, with an infinity pool over the bay. It sleeps up to 16 and has become a favorite for honeymoons, retreats and groups of friends.

The rooms carry names now: the Tree House Bungalow, the Bayview, Bamboo and Poolside Bungalows, the Dulcinea, Don Quixote and Mariposa King Rooms, and the Sacramonte Suite. There is solar hot water, a full communal kitchen, gardens all the way down the slope, and a 10-minute walk into town that is a good deal longer walking back up.

An aerial view of a hillside rebuilt with retaining walls, terraces and cabins
The hillside, rebuilt.

What the hill taught me

My first rebuild stood until the storm. The second one works with the hill: the walls carry the load, the earth keeps the rooms cool, and the roofs grow. Most of what I know about building came the same way, wrong first, then better.

A steel roof frame over a cabin set into the slope
A cabin set into the hill, before its green roof.
Casa Andalucía, the cabins, the pool and the bay, from the air.

What I did

  • Turned a picnic area into a new cabin, with a bathroom of bamboo and colored bottles set in a sunburst around a round window
  • Took down a treehouse-style cabin and rebuilt it on a stronger foundation; the property paid its own way from the first day
  • Ran the emergency rebuild after the October 2017 storm as designer, engineer and general contractor, in the rain, and did the calculations myself
  • Led a crew of 20, plus 10 to 12 more some weeks moving landslide earth by hand where no machine could reach, and was on site every day
  • Saved the main house, which the storm had left at real risk of collapse
  • Redesigned the whole property around load-bearing retaining walls, with new cabins and storage rooms built into them along the contour
  • Took it from one room and two cabins to eight rooms and cabins, with green roofs, earth mass for natural cooling and a yoga platform for 25

Deliverables

  • A bamboo and bottle-glass cabin with a sunburst bathroom
  • A rebuilt treehouse cabin on a new foundation
  • Load-bearing retaining walls across the slope
  • Cabins and storage rooms built into the walls, under green roofs
  • A yoga platform for 25, built for retreats
  • An eight-unit B&B that sleeps up to 16

Skills

  • Structural design and load calculations on a hillside
  • Emergency construction management
  • Earthworks and retaining walls, by hand
  • Passive cooling with earth mass and green roofs
  • Leading a construction crew in Spanish
  • Growing a small rental into an eight-unit B&B
A bamboo-walled bedroom with a mosquito net and a round bottle window
The bamboo cabin.
A bathroom wall of colored bottles in a sunburst around a round window
The bottle-wall bathroom.
Looking straight down on a pool, a lawn and tiled roofs
Straight down over the pool.
An arched gallery with a hammock beside an infinity pool, the sun low behind
Casa Andalucía, the arcade at sunset, 2018.
Two people seen from behind on a deck, looking out over the town and green hills
Casa Andalucía, the deck.
A blue and white hammock under a stucco arch, the open doors of a cabin bedroom behind it
Casa Andalucía, a cabin porch.

What I learned

Build with the slope, not on top of it. The storm proved my first design wrong, and the second one is better because of it.

  • A shower lit through a window of colored glass bottles

    Nuestra Casa

    Designer and builder

    A dilapidated house near the beach turned into a six-bedroom guesthouse in 2016, with a 10-meter water-tower lookout and murals by ten artists.

    San Juan del Sur, 2016 to now

  • A white two-storey building with an outside staircase and balconies

    El Pacífico

    Designer and builder

    A garden hotel in La Talanguera, rewired, replumbed and redesigned room by room. Oro’s chocolate factory started in its kitchen and is still there.

    La Talanguera, San Juan del Sur, 2017 to now

  • Volunteers carrying sacks past walls of tires, bottles and earth under palm trees

    The Windship

    Procurement, building, storytelling

    After Typhoon Haiyan, three months in Leyte helping build the Windship, a typhoon shelter of tires, earth and bottles, with a village and Earthship.

    Batug, Leyte, the Philippines, 2014

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