This symmetrical design was inspired by architectural styles seen in “plantation” homes with perhaps a Key West home twist.  The horizontal lines are stressed by creating oversized soffits, a 50’ + front porch, and a low pitched standing seam roof.  The clients wanted this home to be symmetrical in its design.  The main challenge to creating a symmetrical façade for this project was dealing with the garage.  We couldn’t build a center front stair, so a garage door on one side would weigh down the left portion of the home. We ended up camouflaging the 16’ garage opening on the left side of the front elevation by mimicking how we treated the right side. The garage door basically hides an entire parking level in excess of 4,000 sf.  This parking level can park roughly 7-8 cars.  The clients also wanted to create a sense of open-flow with airy spaces, so we created a double-height foyer that acts as the home’s main axis or “spine” that goes from the front door, through the foyer, through the central gallery, through the great room, and terminating at the lanai.

The rear of the home keeps the symmetrical theme going with the lanai flanked by two pavilions: the master suite and the game room.  The stair taking people from the lanai to the rear yard is completely symmetrical and cascades in a fun way as to allow people to experience the stairs as either a single stair or a double stair.

The house is basically an elevated 1-story home; meaning that all of the air-conditioned square footage is on one level that happens to be approximately 12′ off the ground.  The clients thought that one day they might want an elevator so we designed that into the plan.  It would be relatively simple to retrofit the home at any time with a residential elevator.  This would be practical because it would allow the owners to park their car(s) in the garage level (which is effectively level one), and then simply hop in the elevator with their groceries that will let them off close to the kitchen.  Another great thing about elevators is that they make the home more accessible for people with disabilities.  Most homes that we design that are 2 stories or more either have elevators or have the potential to easily retrofit an elevator into the existing structure.  All of this is easy to do if it is done in the planning period.