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Published: June 23 2016

Florida Hammocks are other-worldly, mysterious, and spatially complex vertical jungles. In contrast to the wetlands, hammocks are hardwood forests that form ecological islands and grow in elevated areas. Florida Hammocks are disappearing and it is the intent of this residential project to reimagine, make vivid and alive the essence of this natural landscape condition, which is so closely tied to the project’s site.

This project reintroduces the hammocks literally, within the surrounding landscape, and implicitly, through its architectural interpretations. The siting of the project is carefully scaled in increments, from the lower scale of the two-story villas, which are closest to the nearby single-family residential neighborhood, and that sit within a hammock park on the ground in the southeast, to a long, low-lying building which is on columns on an elevated park and addresses the commercial and multi-family scaled homes towards the northwest of the site. The 100 units have amenities including a level dedicated to wellness with a gym, yoga room, multiple types of spas, lap pool, and running track, while the roof level will serve as a passive recreational area with swimming pool, lounge seating, and cabanas.

The building’s cladding, a perforated screen of high-performance, lightweight concrete hung like a curtain and lightly articulated, interprets the vertical and organic elements of the hammock – the tall Florida pine and cypress trees and the patterning of coral stone. Like sunlight through canopy trees, the quality of light fi ltered through this screen is meant to capture in its essence, the experiential qualities of the light in the hammocks as it changes throughout the day. Single-loaded corridors with vegetation are located at various levels and the design of open air breezeways, which are utilized to access the units, allows for the movement of light and air, while perforated screens on different planes veil gardens and private spaces.

Florida hammocks are other-wordly, mysterious and spatially complex vertical jungles that grow in elevated areas.