Architects famously say limitations make the best architecture. That could be true for Casa Larga, a handsome Florida house recently completed by Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects (SLRA) of Bridgehampton, N.Y.

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The clients, a high-profile fashion designer and his partner, presented the firm with a simple program for the oceanfront property in Florida: a one-story house with a wing for guests that would be a Zenlike retreat. “It was not so much about the architecture as about how they would live in it,” says founding principal Fred Stelle.

Stelle Lomont Rouhani's office, long based on the south shore of Long Island, is renowned for its sleek contemporary beach houses. "We also understand coastal area codes and construction," says partner-in-charge Viola Rouhani. In Florida, she adds, regulations dictated staying landward of the coastal erosion hazard line. So the design team pulled the house far back from the beach to the west, near the road on the long, narrow 1.7-acre site, and raised it above the flood zone.

Concrete piles, drilled 25 to 30 feet into the ground, form the base for the house’s cast-in-place, board-formed concrete walls, which stand at right angles to the water to withstand an ocean surge. Because of residential construction’s vulnerability to wind and water, local code prohibits plumbing, electrical, mechanical services, or sleeping areas on the lower level. The 6,500-square-foot structure with post-tensioned concrete floors, a teak rainscreen and decking, and oak-clad ceilings, has a cantilevered roof shading the outside upper deck of the main level. It in turn shelters the terrace below from the sun.

The main living quarters, including the living/dining room, kitchen, and master suite, all offer views of the ocean. The guest wing, with four bedrooms, baths, and private balconies is oriented east, and has its own “club room” and kitchen.

The house emphasizes a sense of openness to the outdoors, and the landscaping shields it from the road and the neighbors. The client seems pleased with the results: “The best part is when you get nice thank-you notes from the owner,” Rouhani says.