Private Residence
Pensacola Beach, Florida

STOA Architects was tasked to design this private residence for a family of four, located on a salt-water canal of Pensacola Beach, Florida located 600' north of the Gulf of Mexico and 300' south of Santa Rosa Sound. Goals for the design included: providing amenities for a boating oriented family, incorporating design elements that have lasting appeal, and achieving low maintenance for the salt air coastal environment.

The small living areas were visually extended by constructing the entire southern facade in the house in glass. The north side of the house has a minimum number of windows to provide for proper ventilation. The east and west walls of the house remain solid with the exception of doors leading to decks on the upper levels. To further extend the perception of space, a structural framework was extended 10 feet beyond the south wall. This framework provides for future expansion and for the visual continuation of space from within the house.

The basic heated area of the house is a 20'x40' rectangle; stairways and decks break from this basic geometry to provide sculptural relief.

The structure exceeds the 140-mph wind resistance design criteria and was designed with consideration to the hurricane prone location.