The Treehouse of Your Dreams

In short: Nayara Bocas del Toro has unveiled two fifty-foot treehouses designed by IBUKU, the Bali-based studio led by Elora Hardy, in the firm's first Central American project. Built from four varieties of local bamboo and 19 varieties of 500-year-old hardwood reclaimed from the Panama Canal floor, the solar-powered treehouses rise above the mangrove canopy with 21-foot ceilings, outdoor jungle showers, and a glass Moon Door that pivots at the entrance.

A Treehouse Unlike Any Other

The word "treehouse" can conjure a ramshackle structure cobbled out of bent nails and splintered boards. IBUKU's tree dwellings are something else entirely: an exquisite tribute to local craftsmanship and the sensuousness of nature, with raw edges and distinctive character.

The two towering fifty-foot treehouses at Nayara Bocas del Toro are the first of five conceived by designer Elora Hardy, whose Bali-based studio IBUKU has never before built in Central America. She borrowed inspiration from the surroundings themselves to create a sense of arrival and discovery: the one-bedroom dwellings wait at the end of meandering paths covered in greenery, reached by curving stairs that wind up among the stilts.

Fifty feet up: the first of five treehouses conceived by Elora Hardy for Isla Frangipani.

Bamboo and Hardwood from the Canal Floor

The treehouses are constructed from four varieties of locally sourced bamboo and 19 varieties of reclaimed, five-hundred-year-old, partially petrified hardwoods recovered from the floor of the Panama Canal. Wood that spent centuries underwater now holds up a bedroom above the forest.

The result is an environmental marvel that fuses Balinese and Panamanian materiality and design traditions. Nothing here pretends to be seamless. The raw edges are the point: every pole and plank carries the texture of where it came from.

"We wind up among the tall stilts to a glass Moon Door that turns like a dancer on its center pivot. Overlooking the mangroves, the view wraps around us, and we feel part of it. Here is where we can incubate unforgettable experiences."

Elora Hardy, Founder of IBUKU

Through the Moon Door

The entrance sets the tone: a glass Moon Door that turns on its center pivot, opening onto an airy dwelling with 21-foot ceilings, a tropical yet pared-down aesthetic, and floor-to-ceiling windows. An open-air living room looks out over the canopy of the mangrove forest, where screens curve playfully and bamboo poles soar overhead.

Outdoor jungle showers and deep soaking tubs invite bathing en plein air, and a pulley system allows for unobtrusive room service. With a balance of elegance and texture, you are open to nature and sheltered within your space at the same time.

Powered by Sun, Watered by Rain

Like everything on Isla Frangipani, the treehouses run off-grid. Power comes from the sun. Water is purified rainwater. Wastewater is treated through environmentally safe systems engineered to the specifications of the island's environmental study, so nothing reaches the sea below.

That discipline is not a footnote to the design. It is the reason the treehouses could be built at all, in a protected archipelago where the mangroves and the reef set the rules. Read: How We Built an Off-Grid Resort →

The Rest of the Island

The treehouses join a resort that already refuses to repeat itself: 16 custom overwater villas, a 70-foot freshwater pool, the 100-year-old Elephant House restaurant, and the world's first elevated white sand beach, built on stilts over the sea.

Treehouse stays include all meals and non-motorized water sports at the year-round destination. For more information or reservations, call 1 800 637 9095 or visit Nayara Bocas del Toro.

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