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Basque surfer-architect astonishes by building beachfront modernist house in Nicaragua for $8000, “I read books in the hammock on the terrace, do sunrise yoga and score epic waves!”

And built in front of a wild A-frame called The Bomb!

You dream of splitting the big ol city with its two-million dollar shoebox apartments and acres of concrete and finding a piece of bucolic heaven, land cheap enough to get a spread where you can open a window and smell the ocean?

Three years ago, Daniel Serrano, a surfer and architect from San Sebastian in Spain, threw down $1500 on a Pastime Camper and hit the Pan-American Highway from Oregon, its beak pointed towards South America.

He found his little slice of surf-heaven in Aposentillo, Nicaragua, where a hard-breaking A-frame called The Boom breaks nine months of the year.

Serrano bought himself half-an-acre of dirt, parked his camper and built a traditional palm palapa shelter over it to stay dry during the raining season.

He figured he’d keep it as a “refuge” when he wasn’t back home in Spain, but with design work coming in, weeks turned into months and now he lives in Nicaragua for half the year.

And, so, that old Pastime Camper got turned into a 240-square foot modernist home.

“This cabin was built by two people using the most basic tools,” explains Serrano. “Through a system of sliding doors and windows that open with pulleys, the main space is able to open up to the landscape during the day and enclose to give privacy during the night. Interior and exterior distinctions are blurred allowing an engagement with the environment and at night it radiates like a lantern. The intention of the camper house is to explore the essentials for a magical holiday shelter within a small budget.”

Small budget?

Serrano says if you include the cost of the camper, buying and transporting materials, all his tools as well as cookware for the kitchen, so drive in jive away as they say, eight gees.

“I read books in the hammock on the terrace, do sunrise yoga, and eat well,” he tells Dwell, an architecture mag. “And score epic waves.”

Wild, yes?

Serrano's pastime camper before it got switched into a modernist house.
Serrano&Rsquo;S Pastime Camper Before It Got Switched Into A Modernist House.
The camper with its roof, the precursor to his new house.
The Camper With Its Roof, The Precursor To His New House.

 

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Hippy

Looks like a Chris Malloy movie without annoying Donovan.

tim_nelsen

photo from The Baja Central Free Beacon: he leaves a trail. an Oregon-sized trail! top 10 most wanted…everywhere for constructs with no building permits…Chas’ uncle?

https://beachgrit.com/wp-co…

Nicole Anstedt

*all the bros on Beach Grit buying patchouli and hammers.*

Nicole Anstedt

So he built an open-air thatched garage? It looks like a better build than I could do and the refurb of the truck is cool, but isn’t most of his new house just his old truck? And he had to spend that much in Central America? As an American once told me in a Mexican market, “You’re getting ripped off.”

tim_nelsen

original architectural design while soaring on ayahusca…listening to Elton John’s Our House and CSN&Y Teach Your Children at the same time… https://ktla.com/wp-content…

tim_nelsen

Serrano The Conquistador! New World Colonizer…Brave New Wave-Rider. I have one question for him: “Do you like to watch nude gladiator wrestling?”

JohnsKnees

Do they not have mosquitos in Spain or Oregon? Cause that seems like the place is ripe to get bitten alive.

bruddah

Sheesh, that bowl in the first photo.

Sean Connery

I haven’t read one in awhile but somebody needs to fire the current editor of Dwell Magazine.

tim_nelsen

he’s got a bit of Okkie in him…an Okkie from Mustokey.

Abscessed Llama

Sketch Up is one cool cool program..

notsurfingtoday

Crap house, killer wave.

OpenFrontZip

I’m gonna go contrarian here and say good for him.

Sellme fitzgobbins

Ah the con quistador lifestyle continues , rich euros “slumming it ” in the America’s

tim_nelsen

con cur…Serrano will soon be bullfighting for beach access.

Mike

When you come back after being in the motherland visiting family… everything is gone. You have to build masonry structures. They are hard to relocate. Aka steal, strip, salvage.

tim_nelsen

unless you live on the beach, inside or under a lifeguard stand…just like me!

ps. my ride is a dune buggy is parked outside…

https://maximizingluxurytra…

Doobalachy

I guess it wont be uncrowded anymore but that is probably the intent with todays travellers trying to monetise their “experiences “

Geronimo Mastrobator

Hippies

@surfads

Some good waves around there but a Dodgy-as area to have a house in. Bandidos would be lining up to raid the joint. As they should too. And at least in Nica they look you in the eyes while they rob you.

Wayne Lunch

He’ll be fine. He’s head of European distribution 🙂

nyc surfing golden boy

is he behind the gate? if so, hes good.

Strawman

Nice article! (The correct term for that dwelling is “nailtent”)

Crusty

Gonna be pleasant when the chip board starts to mold and the vinyl interior begins to disintegrate. So sick!

Craven Morehead

Don’t forget it’s hotter than Satans asshole there too


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