Project: Floating Gardens House

Architecture: TROPICA
Landscape Design: TROPICA 
Interior Design: TROPICA
GC: iBUILD
Landscape Installation: TROPICA 

Status: Permitting
Design: 2024
Build: 2025 - 

Location: Coconut Grove, Miami, FL

TEXT: The goal of this project was to multiply the usable fooprint of the property and to reuse both the material and form of local dock constructions.

Docks in Florida are created with greenheart wood, that, when burried within sand, is petrified and hardened over many years. When the exposed wood is damaged or weathered, the pilings are discarded and typically disposed of. Our goal was to utilize the petrified portions of these wood pilings by miling these now-hardwood posts. 

These posts will be utilized for exterior screening, decking, and shades. The wood takes on a slightly warped, and imperfect quality that is unique to these wood elements. The overall structural system of the house is also inspired by these local dock structures. A series of 6 overlapping planes intersect and overlap to create shade, and more importantly, a series of open roof gardens. Concrete “pilings” carry all the way through the structure and provide posts to attach cables and vines to, in order to create shade on the roof gardens.

By planting all roofs of the structure, the plot, and gardened area is multiplied by a factor of two. A unique roofing and insulation system, typically used in industrial warehouses allows for both planting above the concrete roof structure and also an exposed concrete slab on the interior of the home.

Four unique living volumes, each in different local materials, will sit within the concrete planes, like small houses of a village. Our design -build team will be installing native plants, specifically selected for their ability to grow in shallow soil. Vines will climb the dock-piling-like columns and eventually wind around cable systems to contribute additional cover for exterior spaces.

The design of the garden, specifically the roof spaces, will define the majority of the architectural character of the house.

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