For “Cuattro Casa de Café”, Faci Leboreiro uses the existing trees as the structural backbone of the design, determining the layout of the terrace slab and the central open-air corridor that separates the main volumes, providing cross-ventilation, natural light and a sequence of views that create a magical tunnel.
This project, which invites visitors to pause and reflect, is constructed using concrete, native timber and grey gravel in permeable areas, respecting the natural terrain and facilitating water infiltration. Inside, locally made items are used, such as clay lamps, handcrafted ceramics and wooden furniture.
"Cuattro Casa de Café" by Faci Leboreiro. Photograph by Rafael Gamo.
Project description by Faci Leboreiro
Pause.
Time suspends itself, like an oasis held between the ocean and the jungle. Architecture frames time, creating its own microcosm.
The project emerges from the surrounding vegetation. Upon reaching the central corridor—the guiding axis—the rhythm shifts: it slows, it lingers. The precise repetition of concrete brackets, accompanied by the play of light and shadows cast by the trees, shapes a passage that feels almost cinematic. Movement transforms; it becomes more dynamic, inviting one to discover what lies within this seemingly magical tunnel. A space that inspires wandering, running, leaping across its traces, feeling the gravel underfoot, and understanding that this sculptural piece holds more depth than it first reveals.
The containment and serenity of the main axis unfold inward, giving rise to two lateral volumes—habitable spaces filled with life, architecture, and interior design. On one side, the café and kitchen—the heart of the project—extend toward the dining area. On the other, the bakery and the Mexican craft shop. Places of gathering, for memories, laughter, tears, and celebrations; for enjoying a cup of coffee with a cookie and sensing the passing of the day through the dialogue between interior and exterior, movement and pause.
One of the architectural bodies opens at its end into a terrace-like void, preserving the large tree that anchors this volumetric gesture.
Both lateral volumes are subtly offset; their slabs engage in a quiet interplay, generating shifting geometric compositions that appear to float. From certain angles, they nearly touch—forming a soft, almost embracing tension between forms.
The terminating volume of the corridor houses the restroom area and defines the built boundary of the site. Beyond it, the intention is clear: an open, unbounded space—playful and porous—woven with vegetation, stones, sunlight, and shade. A relaxed landscape leading to an office volume at the back, surrounded by meandering paths that invite contemplation.
Cuattro, Troncones, is a project that anchors yet lifts.
That runs and walks.
That accelerates the heart while offering shelter and calm.
A project that shares and gives life.
And within its volumes and rhythms, it holds its most essential gift:
the pause.
