In the mid-seventies Tricia and I purchased an acre lot that was 8 ft. below the surrounding properties, with natural, coral rock walls on all four sides.. Our idea was to place the home down in this pit, creating a visually enclosed perimeter. In 1976, I designed a “living environment” facilitated by plan and space. Designing an aesthetic statement was not a consideration in its design. At this time in my life I was no longer interested in creating a free-form extravaganza. And if not that, then it need not be any type of aesthetic statement. What was vital was the living environment – not its “envelop”.

The initial desire was that the main living space be open and airy, comfortable and unrestricting, spatially large and be more like a patio / garden room, than a formal living room. We wanted it to open out to the exterior gardens, especially as we had visual privacy on all sides. Thus we designed a large central space with large expanses of glass and glass sliding doors on three sides.

Between the glazing masses are the entry, the kitchen with my office above it, and the bedroom wing with my library and a guest bedroom above it.

We wanted our bedroom to have that same type of openness and height. So it, too, has a glass and glass sliding door wall facing out into an enclosed garden.

To accentuate the flow between exterior and interior space in all three directions, I designed a ten ft. high coral rock wall that snakes from the exterior into the interior that then defines the interior spaces.

We then decided that since we had established a “natural” aesthetic, we would use wood as the final element, especially as I had a woodshop of fine craftsmen at my disposal. Because the spaces were so large, and because we did not want a forest of columns, we ended-up designing a steel structure. Wood column and beam covers were then incorporated. The plan then became a juxtaposition of the rectangle for construction purposes of steel post and beam and a triangular spatial flow.

     
Tricia and I have always loved tropical plants, many of which are Aroid family. Tricia, as a matter of fact, has one of the founding members of the International Aroid Society. Our home was situated on the property in such a way that large expanses were available for the development of a tropical garden that would continually flow around our home.

One of our first moves was to place Ficus (Banyan) trees around the perimeter of the property. The canopy and roots of these trees are an elemental part of our garden environment. I then designed curvilinear 2 ft. high coral rock retaining walls that created planting plateaus for Tricia’s plants. The concept evolved that since we were planting exotic specimens, each should be given its separate space, and the garden would be, essentially, “a combination of individuals”, rather than groupings and massing. The interrelationship of these individuals with each other then became the basis for developing the garden.

In essence, then, my garden is not a landscape design that appropriate plants were then inserted into. Its design is the result of whatever aesthetically happens once individual specimens of favorite plants are given their individual space to "shine". The garden’s tropical "form" (the atmosphere of the garden) is the result of the combination of tropical "points" (the individual plants).

Another garden element was discovered somewhat recently. With the use of a back hoe and augur it is possible to create “Subterranean Sculptures”. Below grade, the limestone we call oolite, is so porous and soft, it is easily sculpted, and beautiful recesses in the garden can de created. Thus our tropical garden became a combination of rocks, roots and exotic plants.

 

     

The concept was to first consider the living functions by the pool. The design of the pool did not come first as an aesthetic idea, was the resultant form between those living functions and the surrounding gardens. In essence, the design was "whatever happened when all living considerations were given free expression".

The primary consideration was a sundeck for sunning and entertaining and having outdoor dinners. This sundeck is orientated to the south for sunning purposes. I wanted a lap-lane for swimming laps. The lap-lane is orientated along the axis of the house as one leaves the house to the lap-lane on this axis, and is thus on a 45 degree angle to the sun deck. I also wanted the gardens to jut in and out so plantings interlock with the water.