A family’s dream of a special place for present and future generations has been realized on a Florida barrier island. While the shoreline cannot be seen from the property, the landscape of the two-acre site offers beautiful views in every direction. The design of the house intends to frame and amplify these views. A winter retreat for a couple and their adult children, the focus on detail and order is a reflection of their European heritage and modern lifestyle.
Conceived as a group of buildings built and connected over time, Augusta is a flowing composition of open and light filled spaces. The oversized roof, supported by stylized structural concrete columns, shelters two parallel universes: inside spaces adjacent to similar sized covered outdoors spaces. The interior living room leads to the outdoor living room, etc. This pattern repeats the length of the main house. While only the master bedroom is located in the main house, two identical guesthouses, each equally separate from the other, turn 90 degrees to face the oversized swimming pool centered on the width of the main house. Carefully considered details compliment every interior surface. No opportunity to celebrate the meeting of different materials is missed. Recessed joints separate walls from floors and ceilings and doors from walls. Clear cedar ceiling planes contrast with the white plaster, emphasizing sharp 90-degree edges and defining the circle of the dramatic stairwell. Smooth, plaster is a prominent player in this composition as it twists up the main staircase, floats above the floors on structural columns or stop short of meeting the ceilings at the continuous line of transom windows.