Casa Selva: Self-Sufficient Luxury
Written by Natalia Bolohan
With the rise in the popularity of image sharing it seems like there has been an increase in celebrating minute details of existence. Almost each day of the year has a celebration attached to it whether it’s National Donut Day or World Smile Day. Each designated celebration day draws in a segment of the population that can relate to the topic in question but there is one day of the year, whose topic pertains to all of humanity: April 22nd also known as Earth Day. As Marshall McLuhan said, there are no passengers on spaceship Earth. We are all crew. This means there are no designated people in charge of ensuring the sustainability of our Earth, we are all responsible.
Earth Day is an opportunity to celebrate how far we have come in our quest to treat our planet better, while maintaining awareness of how much more we need to do. At Maya Luxe our efforts to reduce our carbon footprint include buying locally produced toiletries for all our villas, using recycled paper in our offices, using digital documents whenever possible and commissioning local wood workers to make guest bag items. In addition, one of our most luxurious available accommodations is a villa that runs completely on solar power. Our marketing team had the privilege of spending a morning with villa owner Tove at Casa Selva and it would be an understatement to say that we were in awe.
Tove has been developing homes for the past thirty years. Sustainable building piqued her interest while she was remodeling a farm house in Switzerland and was declined the use of a wind mill due to proximity to a residential area. Ever since then Tove has made an effort to incorporate sustainability into all her projects. It wasn't until Casa Selva, that she was able to build a completely sustainable home, making this project her pride and joy. Tove’s philosophy is that a house can be both eco friendly and beautiful. Case Selva is proof that sacrificing comfort and beauty are indeed not necessary when building sustainability. The villa’s glass walls reveal beautifully decorated bedrooms and an open concept living room and kitchen. The all white walls and concrete provide the perfect contrast for the crystal blue pool and sharp architectural lines. Inside the villa we learned about the strategic use of a green roof to ensure cool temperatures, which Tove told us is an old school green building method, dating back even hundreds of years. The villa is also equipped with modern sustainable features such as solar panels, LED lights and a brand new, state of the art, energyplant technology.
Not only is the villa intended to be earth friendly, but it is located in the middle of nature, namely the jungle. As if a beautifully built, sustainable home is not enough, the property also hosts a mystical cenote (a natural sinkhole or cave) where small animals often stop and drink water. Our first question was "Can we have a dinner party in the cave?" Tove assured us we could if we wanted to. The villa, much like the owner, is beyond description charming and unique.
We love that it is beautiful and functional without causing any harm to the spaceship we call Earth. Happy Earth Day fellow crew members!
From $1,600 USD / night