Studio Octava Architects is one of the most exciting emerging architecture firms in Costa Rica, specializing in high-end residential and hospitality design. Founded by architects Matt and Rhina, both trained at Die Angewandte under Masterstudio Zaha Hadid and Kazuyo Sejima, the studio combines international design rigor with a deep working knowledge of Costa Rica's terrain, climate, and construction reality.

Studio Octava operates as a full-service practice. Every project moves through the studio, from initial brief to construction administration, under one roof, one team, and one consistent design vision. That continuity is not incidental. It is how the studio ensures that what gets built matches what was designed.

Costa Rica's sites demand specificity. A house on a Pacific ridge behaves differently from one carved into a Central Valley hillside, and the studio designs accordingly. Steep topography, coastal exposure, and tropical humidity are conditions that shape every structural and spatial decision from the ground up. The studio designs with a long view, aiming for buildings that age well, hold their value, and become worth passing down.

Matt is Austrian-born and studied architecture at Die Angewandte under Masterstudio Zaha Hadid, and later Kazuyo Sejima. At Studio Octava Architects, he leads schematic design, technical development, and buildability, carrying each project from first concept through to construction with close attention to how it will actually be made.

Rhina is Costa Rican and brought her own international trajectory to the partnership, studying across Costa Rica, China, London, and Vienna, where she and Matt trained together at Die Angewandte. She leads client relationships, design direction, and business development at Studio Octava Architects, and is typically the first point of contact for new projects. Rhina takes also leadership of the Construction Phase team that act as project inspectors together with the engineering coordination.

Both remain deeply hands-on across every stage of a project. That direct involvement is a deliberate choice, and the reason the studio stays selective about the work it takes on.