Project: Vertical Gardens House

Architecture: TROPICA
Landscape Design: TROPICA 
Interior Design: TROPICA 

Status: In Design
Design: Ongoing 
Build:  

Location: Coconut Grove, Miami, FL

TEXT: This home is designed in one of Miami’s most typical zoning conditions. Each home is built to the maximum zoning envelope, 3 stories high, 5 feet from side setbacks. Neighbors feel the dirty looks of other families, in this almost-townhouse zoning condition.

Here our goal was to create private outdoor space in a place where it is almost impossible. While the building is essentially a zoning-shaped cube, we found that there was a small difference between the maximum interior square footage and the outermost setbacks. This difference is the dimension of the private internal garden-atrium that gives the home its private outdoor space, through three stories. The house is designed inside-out and outdoor spaces remain safe from prying eyes...

The facade is a new take on a Miami classic: the breeze block. The facade keeps the house’s secret, giving little hint to the vertical garden world within the dense suburb.

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