Concept For A Florida Home Development

Key Takeaways:

• Long and Narrow Layout

• Entrance Moved To Side

• One Side Of House Windowless To Create Private Courtyard For Adjacent House

• One Consolidated, Very Large Living Room

• One Consolidated Dining Room

• Living Room Configured To Integrate Very Large Format Projector TV

One can discern encouraging trends in home building emerging over the course of the last decade or two as the open plan house design conceived by Frank Lloyd Wright continues to work its way into American domestic architecture. Wright was often asked his secret in design. 'The secret is there is no secret.' replied Wright. 'One merely designs according to the nature of the thing. Architecture for so long has tried to create a picture. The time has come for it to be.'

With Wright's simple dictum in mind, I have tried to design a house appropriate to the landscape and conditions of Florida, about the most popular state in the union with new home buyers. Now the typical Florida tract house seems to follow a few accepted design conventions. It should be long, narrow and set upon fairly narrow lots. This seems to have to do with how most Florida developments are created. Ponds are dug in the center of the development to absorb runoff from frequent and heavy rains, while the excavated dirt is piled up around the edge, raising homes to better guard against flooding. Such large scale excavation is no doubt expensive, made feasible by fitting in as many homes around the ponds as possible.

The three part Florida house consists of its garage, indoor living space, and outside living space with kitchen, pool, and hot tub. I've arranged these components into a simple design, which following Wright dispenses with a grand front entrance in favor of a simple, space saving side entrance. I've followed the contemporary lead for the kitchen Island with bar stools, but put the business end of the kitchen to the back for better ventilation and containment of cooking odors. In keeping with Wright I dispense with multiple living rooms and dining rooms - combining den, TV lounge, and living room into one fit for purpose space. Dining the same, with one long wide table. The 'outdoor room' is likewise composed of one dining space, one living room space.

With houses being fairly close together I've incorporated the trend of putting windows to one side of the house, allowing the side yard to create a small private courtyard, which continues around at the back. In this way the outdoor living space and side yard form a private L shaped courtyard. As well this strategy presses all four setbacks into productive use: The front setback provides for parking, the back setback is reclaimed as an outdoor room, and the remaining portions of the side setbacks work as paths to the house entrance and outdoor room entrance. For the design shown the bedrooms are on the second floor reached by a stairwell enclosed in the boxlike structure faced with long narrow London, New York, and Paris posters.

Scholars of Wright mention that the families who lived in his houses reported their house having the quality of being just the right size, with everything taken care of for you by Wright. Moving into the house was like checking into a hotel. You never had to buy another stick of furniture. I've sought to incorporate this philosophy as well, hoping to give the home buyer a turnkey, furnished home so one source of stress and worry are taken off the table.