“Sustainability” matters to us, and we know it matters to you, our clients. But businesses say a lot of different things when it comes to sustainability, and not all of it is backed by action. Here’s what we are talking about and committed to when we color our logo green.
From Soil to Sale
Sustainability in the Design-Build Process
At Senderos, what’s behind your ocean view matters to us. And we work alongside our partners at Green Roots Consultancy to make sure that from soil to sale, we’re creating breathtaking, ocean view homes the right way.
The design process starts with careful cataloging of key factors on your home site. We track topography and water flow, map soil quality and depth, and survey plant and animal life.
We quantify this data, and commit that on all new homesites in Senderos, the ecological value — of carbon capture, biodiversity, and importance to the ecosystem — has been preserved.
To the traditional designer, this commitment would be a constraint. To the skilled architects of our guild, it is a welcome challenge and a source of both inspiration and great beauty.
These designs are brought to life with a gentle footprint, even on dramatic cliffside homesites, thanks to cutting-edge home building techniques that take lessons from nature.
We preserve natural resources like topsoil, which takes hundreds of years to develop, in our soil bank. Cleared foliage can be milled into furniture, or pyrolyzed into carbon-rich biochar.
Finally, topsoil is replenished, along with suitable local plants that provide not only beauty, shade, and privacy, but also carbon capture, food for keystone species, and erosion control.
Stepping into your new home is just the start. Throughout the common areas and community spaces of Senderos, we follow these steps and others to be conscious stewards of the land.
Life Cycling
As our friends at Earth University say, “in nature there is no waste.”
Through dedicated composting, waste management, and water treatment plans designed in tandem with our expert partners, we work to keep nutrients and water, which are the lifeblood of any ecosystem, right here on site.
Biochar
When trees fall, when old branches are trimmed, and when fruit bearing or carbon-capturing trees start to decay, they can be turned into biochar, a carbon-dense, natural fertilizer created through underground baking called pyrolysis. In this way, we cycle carbon back into the ecosystem, which improves nutrient retention and fertilization, rather than releasing it into the atmosphere.
The Building Blocks of Homes
We cycle downed trees into platforms and custom finishes. For example, we’ve begun on-site milling of fallen trees to sustainably re-use any cleared timber. Here in the photo, we are creating rough-hewn planks out of fallen pochote trees to be used for fencing and viewing platforms.
Water and Irrigation
As a tropical dry forest, Guanacaste has a stark seasonal difference in rainfall. Our water treatment and irrigation plans aim to smooth out these highs and lows by recycling nutrient-rich waters back into our plant life during drier months, and guiding rainfall to penetrate into groundwater and reservoirs during the rainy season.
Waste and Recycling
As our friends at Earth University say, “in nature there is no waste,” so any organic waste from the project is composted and turned into fertilizer to reintroduce to our plant life. Meanwhile, nonorganic waste is collected, sorted, and delivered to the municipality where it can be recycled or responsibly disposed of.
Ecologica
Trees offer much to humans and to nature. They can provide shade and comfort, privacy and beauty, carbon capture, structure to slopes, and defense against runoff, all in addition to their role as a food source and natural habitat. We monitor the health of trees throughout the projects, and when appropriate, cycle new native trees into our ecosystem that serve multiple functions for us and our wildlife.
A Growth Mindset
Understanding what it means to think sustainably.
More than just checking boxes, lasting sustainability requires thinking outside the box, and being willing to ask “what can we do to make this work for our environment, and to make it last.” Even if the answers aren’t easy.
"Most businesses these days talk about sustainability in some way or another. And that’s a good thing. Our challenge is to make sure that we are not just talking about it but we are actually doing something. Transforming the landscape is a responsibility not to be taken lightly. We are responsible to local communities, to the local wildlife, and even to entire ecosystems that may be impossible to see with the naked eye.
We believe “doing something” means waking up every day and continuing to learn how to protect the environment, how to transform the landscape responsibly, how to not just preserve but improve, and then putting those learnings into practice."
Matt Goldberg
Managing Partner at Senderos
"Humans are comfortable in nature. We love fresh air, the cool shade of a grove of trees, the sound of birds and wildlife. Many developers feel like you have to pick between human comfort or a connection to nature, but we think that creating a place where nature thrives can make people more comfortable, not less."
Curtis Peart
Managing Partner at Senderos
“It’s hard, because you have so much to understand, and so much to try to protect on a site like this one. But that is also why it is so worth it to care. Not everyone can see that, but the people who do in fact see this end up creating a place that is good for all life — human or otherwise.”
Dr. B.K. Singh
Professor, Earth University
Principal, Green Roots Consultants
