When the Czech architect Dagmar Stepanova was asked to help design a hospitality destination called Art Villas in Costa Rica in 2016, it seemed like a dream job. Working in a lush jungle above the breaking waves of Playa Hermosa would provide a total change of scenery from the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture of Prague while also providing an opportunity to have some fun.
At the time, she didn’t know it would also inspire a significant lifestyle change. Even though Ms. Stepanova had founded her architecture firm, Formafatal, in Prague, the longer she was in Costa Rica, the more she wanted to move there full time.
“I just fell in love with Costa Rica,” said Ms. Stepanova, 50. “By the third year of the project, I started to try to find a property to buy for myself.”
She searched for a rugged lot near the small town of Uvita before deciding the property she liked most was one she was already familiar with — a 2.7-acre swatch of verdant hillside directly beside Art Villas.
But there was a problem: “I didn’t have money for it,” Ms. Stepanova said.
To buy the land, she came up with a proposal for her friend Karel Vancura, another architect based in Prague. They could buy the lot together, she suggested, and in addition to her own home, they could build villas to rent out as a source of income.
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