When you’re an avid water skier with property overlooking an aquatic slalom course, maintaining a view of your surroundings is key. “The home is really driven by exposure to the landscape,” says architect Scott Hughes. The residence was designed to provide not only an optimal platform from which to watch every Raley, backroll, and scarecrow, but also efficient shelter from Florida’s blistering sun and torrential rain.

A series of floor-to-ceiling windows along the north facade open the cozy living room, dining room, and kitchen to an expansive vista of bucolic Otter Lake, while a simple corrugated-metal roof shades a terrace and directs cooling breezes through the upper transom. Despite the inlet’s obvious appeal, the resident’s favorite view is actually from his cantilevered master bedroom, where he’s seen bobcats, deer, wild turkey, otters, and even the occasional alligator cruise by.