Courtyard House On A Hill

Five slick, shingled, gabled boxes cascade down a hill in three directions to form a courtyard with a sundrenched pool surrounded by shady porches. The boxes, with over-scaled windows recall the regions’ boat-building sheds, are stitched together with another familiar coastal form, the low-slung, deep porch.

All buildings are one room wide to foster cross-breezes from the nearby Intracoastal Waterway, and arranged to sacrifice not one tree, and make best use of the rare 17 feet of topography available on site. The use of oyster-shell stucco over masonry foundations and fireplaces root the house to the ground and culture with a continuous, undulating wall, intended to make a most beautiful ruin if the structure were to ever burn to the ground.