Julie and Jeff Cornfeld, a couple with great appreciation of design and architecture, were working with noted regional architect Don Singer to design a modern two-story residence on their nearly one-acre waterfront site.  We were asked to conceptualize the entry sequence and pool configuration as well as design a distinctive garden.  It was important to address privacy and security, and of course, to showcase the architecture.

The new house felt large and imposing on the site, which had no trees to mediate the scale of the building.  In addition, the garage was overly prominent.  We took advantage of the corner lot by angling the driveway in from the northwest corner of the property between two four-foot-high limestone planters.  By aligning the pavement with the geometry of the building, we subtly guide visitors to the front door.  A mass of bamboo softens the angular lines of the structure.

For the auto court, rock-salt-finished cast-in-place concrete pavers are offset with zoysia grass strips in a pattern that compliments the architecture of while imparting a human scale.  Numerous native canopy trees combined with Cuban sabal palms shade this area and provide shielding from the street.  For color, masses of bromeliads surround the bases of trees and tumble from the canopies and trunks, as they do in their native environment.  This dense, shady space is the preferred play area for the Cornfelds’ young children.

At the front entrance, we extended the interior travertine floor over the platform steps, which we pulled away from the building’s walls.  The garden reaches out from the voids between the steps and walls to envelop the visitor.  In the back of the house, the travertine floor extends onto the pool deck.  We floated Singer’s pool form six inches above the ground, giving it the appearance of a massive cantilever.  Water flows continuously from pool to spa; the two basins are separated only by a small ledge containing a flush-mounted fountain jet.

Large-scale silver Bismark palms, which cast dramatic silhouettes on the dark water of the adjacent lake, provide a foil to the scale of the building.  Between the pool and seawall we contoured the grade, keeping areas for the children to play while directing storm water to on-site storage areas. To maintain open water views and intimate garden spaces, we gave priority to indigenous plants in beds of contrasting greens and silvers, highlighted with patches of strong color.  We blurred the east and west boundaries of the property to make the site resemble a clearing in the woods.  Native trees and understory shrubs establish habitat.