Coral Gables AdditionMiami, USA

The project entails adding to an existing waterfront residence in the Sunrise Harbor neighborhood of Coral Gables. The existing residence is on a 27,000-sf lot and includes a 4-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom home with ancillary outdoor and indoor spaces that add approximately 4,237 sf.

The Sunrise Harbor neighborhood has undergone many changes in the last few years, becoming very eclectic in its styles as 60 and 70 modern homes with pitched roofs are intertwined with Mediterranean revival residences and more contemporary homes with flat roofs and defined frontal arrangements. At least four prominent houses with flat roofs within a few blocks of the waterfront residence. These tend to have large glazing panels facing the street, often double height, balconies, and finishes in stucco, stone, wood, or painted metal. Landscape plays a prominent role in screening and providing privacy.

Our approach was to generate an interplay between old and new, taking the garage one story volume to establish an axis of symmetry to what happens on each side of it, existing to the right and new addition on the left. The addition respects the portico height, establishing a solid horizontal line (datum) in the second story that visually carries through both volumes. The four portico columns are replicated to emphasize the visual connection further, framing the new main entrance. The mass of the existing house is reproduced in addition to acting as a counterbalance in the symmetrical composition.