Projects
Synthetic thatch roofs already standing in Costa Rica.
Resort pool decks, beach club houses, condominium amenities and private ranchos across Guanacaste, the Central Pacific and the Central Valley.
What to look for
How to judge a thatch roof from a photograph.
Colour tells you almost nothing. What tells you whether a roof was built well is the line of the eave, the regularity of exposure between courses, and how the ridge is resolved — the three places a rushed installation gives itself away from ten metres.
These are projects executed with NIPA® material by palm.cr, across new build and the replacement of failing natural roofs. If one of them resembles what you are planning, we can usually arrange a visit.
Residential tower
Amenities beside a crystal lagoon
Social-area palapas at the foot of a residential tower in Guanacaste, facing the lagoon beach.
Residential tower
Grill and bar palapa
Covered social area looking onto the lagoon; a single-plane roof on a steel frame.
Residential tower
Palapa at the foot of the tower
NIPA® synthetic thatch roof against the tower's volume, with a deep eave.
Resort
Pool deck palapa
Shade over the pool area with long planes and a deep eave towards the deck.
Beach club
Beachfront club house
Direct salt exposure and sustained coastal wind, metres from the water.
Condominium
Owners' social area
Hipped roof over timber structure, shared amenity in daily use.
Private home
Mountain rancho
Steep-pitched roof in a high-rainfall area with frequent cloud cover.
Residential tower
Rooftop amenity
Amenity level with junctions against hard construction on three sides.
Commercial
Long-span roof
One continuous plane over a large area, with no sub-roof or membrane.
Private home
Poolside rancho
New-build social area with the battens left exposed from below.
Hospitality
Pool bar palapa
Volume over a pool bar, ridge resolved as a single continuous piece.
Detail
Seen from underneath
The angle a palapa is actually read from, all day, from below.
Detail
Exposure and battens
Regularity of course spacing, which is what separates a good roof from a rushed one.
Detail
Panel texture
Mould and tone mixing that avoids a repeating pattern across large surfaces.
In progress
Course by course
Progress from eave to ridge, checked against a string line as it goes.
Where they are
Regions and what each one demands.
Guanacaste
High UV, salt-laden wind and a long dry season — the country's most demanding test of a roof.
Central Pacific
Intense seasonal rain and sustained wind, from Jacó down through Manuel Antonio and the south.
Central Valley
Condominiums, towers and homes where the palapa is an amenity rather than the main roof.
Want to stand under one before you decide?
We arrange visits to completed projects and send a physical panel sample anywhere in the country.