|
Tropical Shores House
“It’s all about the house,” Michael Kimbrough, the Landscape Architect on this project humbly states, “We really had a great platform to work with.”
The house, of course, is beautiful. With a style that hints at Miami Modern Architecture, or MiMo for short, the Tropical Shores House has clean lines that intersect at contrasting angles and levels to give it a Modern feel with beach house flare. The multifarious junctions and jutting edges naturally define distinct spaces that are further accentuated by separate colors. Enhancing this avant-garde structure, the owner and driving force of this project, Coda Roberson and his partner Jack Hadad, incorporated Indian relics into the design. Near the front door, which was imported from a house of worship in India, there are golem-like foo dog corbels hanging around to scare off solicitors. In a controlled form of chaotic eclecticism, Roberson used marbled teak wood, raw metal planes, and smooth variably shaped walls in the house.
In keeping with the house’s sectional plan, Michael Kimbrough of Littoral Landscapes created three separate yet unified outdoor garden rooms around the Tampa Bay waterfront property. Between the bay’s natural beauty, a custom styled pool, and a salient fountain designed by sculptor Charles Swanson, a common theme of beautiful water is used in all three spaces. Kimbrough balances form, space, color, and site lines to make the landscaping a seamless extension of the architecture.
 Located at the rear of the house between the kitchen and Tampa Bay’s beautiful waters is a garden space, characterized by Kimbrough as “the main living area.” This space is mostly open landscape complimented by a free-form deck and a sculpted live oak tree framing an expansive view from the kitchen windows.
From the water’s edge there is a grassy path leading westward to another garden space, an elevated pool area and veranda. The angular pool is flanked with shady Fishtail and Coconut Palms that create a private tropical enclosure. The electric blue of the pool’s lighting and cobalt tile design intensify at night, but during the day are contrasted nicely with custom stained red and green Bamboo culms in the surrounding landscape.
The entryway at the front of the house is a garden experience to behold. The sloped driveway positions the sightline perfectly to initiate a wide-eyed, slack-jawed stare in most visitors. Attention is lured to the top by the palms’ arched fronds, exploding like the fourth of July against the clean-cut angles of the house. The gaze then drops – slowly – as details start to trickle into consciousness. Shielded by frosted glass, a fat Buddha sits happily in a mediation garden among diagonally planted Buddha Belly Bamboo, Agaves and Devils Backbone. A peaceful steady pour audibly sets the tone. A fountain, this space’s water element, rests in a rock garden with an angled bamboo backdrop. Altogether, a definition of space that pays homage to the home’s great angles and accents. After a quick dabbing of drool from the chin, guests regain composure and say, “nice.”
The elongated Ceres fountain, beautiful in its simplicity, was designed by sculptor Charles Swanson – it is eight feet of elegant lines and smooth surfaces. Michael Kimbrough relates, “The fountain was the icing on the cake. It made the homeowner stand there in awe and say to me, ‘the house is awesome, you are awesome, the fountain is awesome.’” Kimbrough continues, “I love its simplicity, the form, and the low maintenance was critical.”
The project as a whole is especially magnificent at night with Littoral Landscape’s lighting accenting the elements. The protruding angles of the house cast shadows in every direction, trees are emphasized, the fountain is set ablaze, and the pool’s azure aura reflects throughout the night sky. From day to night, front to back, this project reflects unity that “transforms your soul.”
Photos courtesy of Michael Kimbrough
|
