With layers of darkish timber, hand-trowelled plaster and riven stone, this household residence feels reassuringly grounded.
That is all of the extra shocking if you uncover it’s situated six storys above the buzzy, hedonistic setting of Miami’s South Seashore – however that was exactly the purpose of its designers at mwworks.
This residence was designed for a household with robust Miami roots, returning to Florida from Seattle.
‘The concept was to create a quiet, atmospheric surroundings that’s wealthy in tones and supplies,’ explains Eric Walter, co-founder of mwworks. ‘On this manner, the area permits the household to give attention to being collectively in a setting that means permanence, a top quality not usually related to South Seashore.’
The five-bedroom residence was beforehand two separate flats, which Eric and his staff have seamlessly joined collectively.
They started by stripping again the areas to their uncooked components and the unique hefty cement pillars that they revealed at this level haven’t been hid or handled in any manner. As a substitute, they take their place alongside grainy wooden, concrete and sweeps of plaster in a scheme that celebrates robust textures.
Kitchen
The kitchen is a masterclass in trendy kitchen concepts. The kitchen counter tops are hand-chiselled with raised lips paying homage to the pure drift of sand.
Artworks are saved to a minimal and hit simply the correct observe. Dreamy fantastical graphite drawings by Ethan Murrow within the kitchen and the primary eating space really feel suitably ethereal.
Eating room
Trendy eating room concepts abound. Key supplies embrace black limba, a West African hardwood used not solely on the flooring however for bespoke cabinetry and the sliding doorways that divide, or unite, the sociable areas, equivalent to between the eating room and household room.
All through the residence, there may be an interaction of sunshine and shadow. The plaster for the partitions within the household room past the eating room was picked ‘because the irregular floor highlights the altering high quality of sunshine all through the day and lends a selected softness to personal areas,’ says Eric.
Front room
Front room concepts embrace sculptural shapes that convey a way of ease to the primary seating space, which has lovely ocean views.
The depth of the sunshine was a key consideration for Eric and his shoppers. ‘Our first conversations targeted on the ever-changing views from the residence and the standard of sunshine,’ he explains. ‘Our design grew out of a need to amplify these results and let the inside structure act as each a canvas and a body.’
Bed room
In each scheme, the designers used texture so as to add sample – right here, a rattan mattress and a handcrafted facet desk that echoes the form of a sea anemone.
The emphasis on textures additionally embraces the less complicated ornamental ending touches, equivalent to woven chair backs, baskets, sheer curtains and rugs, which come loosely threaded with silk or as tightly woven sisal bouclé. All of it provides as much as areas so wealthy in supplies that they really feel full, cohesive and, most significantly, self-contained. To the purpose the place the ocean views from the home windows are merely an added additional.
Essential rest room
Seashore rest room concepts are extremely underplayed. The bathe tray in the primary rest room is produced from carved stone, a texture that feels pure underfoot.
The doorway to the residence has a large-scale {photograph} of a determine floating within the ocean by Richard Misrach, a reminder of how the serenity of the ocean additionally carries a touch of hazard. An enormous folded paper sculpture by Gonzalo Lebrija hangs in a hall, reflecting a fascination with textures, folds and shadows that’s repeated in a piece of angular 3D tiles within the rest room.
On this manner, themes and shapes are echoed in order that the closed off non-public areas (the bedrooms, a household room and the doorway space) really feel as built-in into the entire because the open-plan kitchen, eating space and front room.
Inside designer mwworks
Images/ Kevin Scott
Textual content/ Jo Leevers
