house rl
key biscayne, miami FL

(in progress / pending)

Detaching the shadow from the ground
This new villa is one of the Studio Delrosso’s most recent manifestations of expansion in the United States. As we write the project is awaiting approval. The client is an Italian family operating in the yacht business on the exclusive island of Key Biscayne, in southern Florida. It might be that the requirement to conform to anti-flood norms prompted Delrosso to devise a structure that seems to hover, as if ready to shed its moorings.
“The entire home is conceived as a compact white unit fended vertically with bands of glazing, partially concealed by the overlap of jutting panels that scatter the continuity, creating the impression of a discontinuous surface enclosed only in glass.” As in other cases, the poetics of the construction pivot on the plot of land itself, which in this case was not particularly favourable. Characterising the east/west border is a surface of solid walls conceived as panels suspended shy of the base to generate a sense of “floating” above the ground. This format yields at the centre with a vertical window section on the two east/west sides, a sort of glazed gallery shielded by two existing palm trees. The day area extends northwards, looking onto the swimming-pool area. The overall site plan covers around 450 square metres and consists of a ground storey with living-room and guest suite, whereas the family’s private area of three suites is housed on the upper storey.