Robin Z. Parker Residence

The floor plans and photos are of my home in Coconut Grove, Florida. My brother, Bo Parker was the photographer; he trained under the renowned architectural photographer Ezra Stoller.

In 1999 I was a divorced ‘empty-nester’ with limited funds and little spare time due to my focus on developing alternative energy systems. However, as the architect, contractor, carpenter, janitor, etc., my strategies and objectives for the home had to be well-defined on a small ‘blank canvas’.

I built on an affordable narrow 40-foot wide, 132-foot deep lot whose only redeeming characteristics were a lonely oak and a high elevation on Miami’s oolite limestone. Site setbacks allowed a 30-foot by 92-foot footprint. Consequently the swimming pool became an essential part of the home’s foundation and the ‘basement’, cut out of solid limestone is a catch basin to keep rain-water on-site and allowing it to leach into the carbonate rock that forms the Florida aquifer.

As illustrated in the photos, the site prompted me to go-down prior to going-up, which permitted a multi-level structure within code height restrictions and enabled exploiting long interior diagonal lines-of-sight (The longer hypotenuse between vertical walls and horizontal floors.). This afforded a greater sense of space without excess square-footage. During excavation, my mother observed that “Robin bought a piece of land and then paid to have it hauled away”!

Floor planning was simple. Get within the structure and under cover before getting out of the car with direct access to storage, utility rooms and the kitchen. Included are entry around the lonely oak, office/study with areas for living, entertaining, media and a guest bath. Combine kitchen and dining so that guests can participate in preparing food; sit-down dining for up to eight. Self-serving buffet with dispersed indoor/outdoor seating for more…I collect art, which I daily enjoy and live with, hence the openness. In fact, the home has only two interior doors, for guest bathroom privacy. Since I shared custody of teenage son, I elected to put him as far away from my quarters as possible in a separate apartment; however, we do share the roof terrace and barbecue during entertaining.

The north/south orientation of the view-less site allowed glass block and recessed clerestory windows on the north elevation to provide the maximum diffused natural lighting for the longest daylight periods. Recessed clerestory windows on the south are shaded by the oak. Openings of glass block set high on the eastern wall provide diffused morning light to the central areas and windows on the west are shaded by neighboring trees. Window openings and the building’s structures allows SE prevailing breezes to enter through large openings and accelerate exiting through smaller. Exploiting the venturi effect, “in like a lamb out like a lion” boosting both interior and exterior natural ventilation.