southern beach house
windmark beach house
anderson architects was one of six architects invited by the St. Joe Company to design a prototypical house for its latest beach community, WindMark Beach. Designs were required to be semi-custom and flexible enough to fit on a variety of lot configurations. Lots typically measure 120’ x 75’, but can vary in width and length depending on their location. To the rear, lots connect to a raised ‘vehicular’ street; to the front, the sites tie into a network of ‘pedestrian’ boardwalks which take the inhabitants from their front porches through the immediate neighborhood directly to the beach.
The long, narrow structure is located along a side setback line, dedicating the remainder of the site to a private garden. To the rear of the lot a carriage house defines the garden, separating it from the street and the public realm. To the front the garden is open to the boardwalk and the community.
Our prototype was conceptualized as a simple, vernacular form, which is extruded and carved to shape a variety of outdoor spaces: on the second floor the form is sliced open to create an outdoor deck space shared by two bedrooms, as well as a ‘gasket’, splitting the plan into two zones, a parents’ ‘wing’ and a kids/guest ‘wing’. Directly below the carved-out volume is the sand room or dogtrot with adjoining outdoor shower, bench and hooks, which also serves as a breeze-way and primary entry. At the front of the house a wooden screen protects a carved-out, shaded, private porch for the third bedroom. Downstairs along the main deck area the façade is pushed back to provide more space for outdoor entertaining and a direct visual and physical connection between the interior and exterior public spaces. The main form is consistently clad with tongue-and-groove butt jointed vertical cedar boards, white washed, celebrating the grain of the wood. Areas where cutting or carving have occurred are expressed by the use of tongue-and-groove horizontal cedar boards with a ‘dropped’ joint detail. Here the siding is stained and sealed to accentuate grain and color.
The simple form is further articulated by the use of clip-ons which introduce some playful elements into the massing. Indoor stairs, for example, are literally attached to the side of the house, one leading to the master suite, the other to two smaller bedrooms. These clip-on volumes are expressed by the change in material (such as the horizontal, stained siding used here) and float on a scaffold of wood post and beams. On the garden side of the house, a covered walkway runs along the main façade formally bringing the inhabitant from the street into the private world of the garden and the sand room. Further along, the walkway widens and continues uncovered, to become the main deck overlooking the private garden. Here an articulated box slips into the building and houses two fireplaces: one interior, one exterior. Facing the community boardwalk a screened porch clips on to the front of the house. This outdoor room is a transition between the public boardwalk and the private interior of the house; above it extends to become a slatted skin, once again screening the second floor patio.
The carriage house is made up of a first floor 2-car garage and a clipped-on second floor guest suite. Siding materials are configured to match the main house. A hollowed-out second floor provides a generous patio overlooking the private garden and the public street. Opening two opposite sides of the garage allows for a visual connection from the garden to the street.
This dwelling’s simple extruded form conveys the relaxed demeanor appropriate to life at the beach. It is about being outside as much as inside. Its narrow footprint allows breezes and light to animate each room. Sitting lightly in the landscape, it speaks a language that is both local and sophisticated, while responding to the climate in a variety of time-honored gestures. Most importantly, it continues to let the landscape dominate white it remains comfortably in the shaded background.
