Project: Grotto House

Architecture: TROPICA
Landscape Design: TROPICA 
Interior Design: TROPICA
Landscape Installation: TROPICA 

Status: In Design
Design: Ongoing
Build:  

Location: Coral Gables, Miami, FL

TEXT: The Grotto House attempts to offer a new solution to Miami’s two most pervasive architectural problems from environmental pressures-- how to enjoy the earth in a flood zone, and how to explore new materials, in a state where facade materials are restricted to a small catalogue (NOA’s), due to hurricane winds.

Every living space located in a flood zone is required to be elevated at least 10’ above sea level. We believe that being helplessly elevated above the earth is unnatural and creates buildings that appear as objects in the landscape. We also dislike that this regulation results in homogeneity in the coastal residential architecture. 

The Grotto House presents a new approach -- taking inspiration from Miami’s existing coral rock (oolite) bluffs. We are interested in bringing the landscape up to the living space of the home, and allowing that dirt and stone to inform the expression of the architecture.

Florida’s native plants have adapted to grow directly on this bedrock, and are not regulated by the hurricane wind NOA’s. Our landscape design approach will encourage and celebrate the potential of these plants.

We will also wrap the elevated living portion with a shaded balcony to enjoy the landscape. The house will rest on the massive boulders of the grotto, growing with ferns, juvenile palms, and other native species... The house itself will grow, weather, and change over time.


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