Design Solution: The addition was inspired by both the extraordinary art housed in the home and by the spectacular natural beauty of a grove of live oaks and banyan trees surrounding its exterior. The design served these two remarkable contexts by creating a series of vessels—interconnected boxes carefully positioned to form a sculpted pavilion within a garden—that simultaneously display and protect important works of art while engaging the landscape.

The site’s secluded lot is defined by two frontages enclosed by a low coral rock wall, which provided an opportunity to develop a residence with distinct and complementary architectures. The existing one-story structure under a single gable served as the anchor. Composed of horizontally organized rooms, the original home contains two recesses that engage the site: a front porch and a large rear corner porch. The latter informed the location of the addition and created an important edge to the garden.

Conceived as a series of vertical volumes and low walls, the addition transforms the backyard into an outdoor room, while its interior extends the horizontal existing house into the vertically inclined world of the backyard’s monumental trees.

Structure and Materials: The addition is built of reinforced concrete masonry units with stucco, concrete slabs, and cast-in-place concrete, which was used for of its complex material presence. Architect Jason R. Chandler worked with mock-ups during the design development of the project to determine the location of score joints, smoothness and roughness of the surface, and sequencing of pours.

Additional Information
Completion date: February 2023
Site size: .33 acres
Total construction cost: $619,500
Client/Owner: Withheld