• “All of our solutions for this house were driven by the desire to take advantage of the long views,” says Hughes. “We wanted the setting to be dominant, so we organised the house around a circulation spine that runs down the middle. This also means that the homeowners, who love to sail, have to interact with all of the space almost all of the time, just as they do on their ­sailboat.”
    “All of our solutions for this house were driven by the desire to take advantage of the long views,” says Hughes. “We wanted the setting to be dominant, so we organised the house around a circulation spine that runs down the middle. This also means that the homeowners, who love to sail, have to interact with all of the space almost all of the time, just as they do on their ­sailboat.”
  • From the largest to the smallest detail, everything that makes the home feel as if it bobs on the ocean was intentional. “The house seems to float because it is built so close to the water, and because it has elevated living spaces and cantilevered decks,” explains Hughes. “Putting the pool on the roof also left the house somewhat anchorless – had the pool been on the grounds, the house would have seemed more connected to its surroundings.”
    From the largest to the smallest detail, everything that makes the home feel as if it bobs on the ocean was intentional. “The house seems to float because it is built so close to the water, and because it has elevated living spaces and cantilevered decks,” explains Hughes. “Putting the pool on the roof also left the house somewhat anchorless – had the pool been on the grounds, the house would have seemed more connected to its surroundings.”
  • It’s the sturdiness of the structure, which was designed to withstand 225-kilometre-per-hour winds, that made it possible for the architects to situate the pool on a rooftop terrace, a realisation that came about after the design process was already underway.
    It’s the sturdiness of the structure, which was designed to withstand 225-kilometre-per-hour winds, that made it possible for the architects to situate the pool on a rooftop terrace, a realisation that came about after the design process was already underway.
  • The most cloistered portion of the home, a stucco cube that adjoins the midsection opposite the glassed living area, holds the bedrooms. Though more privately encased than the rooms in the rest of the home, even the least-open spaces are filled with ample light thanks to skylights over the showers and a long mirror over the master-bath sink that reflects the ocean from the opposite wall of windows.
    The most cloistered portion of the home, a stucco cube that adjoins the midsection opposite the glassed living area, holds the bedrooms. Though more privately encased than the rooms in the rest of the home, even the least-open spaces are filled with ample light thanks to skylights over the showers and a long mirror over the master-bath sink that reflects the ocean from the opposite wall of windows.
  • “The house seems to float because it is built so close to the water, and because it has elevated living spaces and cantilevered decks,” explains Hughes. “Putting the pool on the roof also left the house somewhat anchorless – had the pool been on the grounds, the house would have seemed more connected to its surroundings.”
    “The house seems to float because it is built so close to the water, and because it has elevated living spaces and cantilevered decks,” explains Hughes. “Putting the pool on the roof also left the house somewhat anchorless – had the pool been on the grounds, the house would have seemed more connected to its surroundings.”

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In pictures: Florida beach house with a view

James Ohara

May 22, 2014

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An impressive Florida home designed by Scott Hughes and John Umbanhowar of SH Arc offers impressive views of the water.

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