The Bunker Addition

The client’s existing home is located on a Florida coastal dune lake with views of the Gulf of Mexico. The existing three bedroom home has an adjacent carriage house with a garage. Both the home and the carriage house feature second floor living areas to take advantage of the expansive views of the lake and the Gulf beyond.

The client wanted to add an additional two bedrooms to the home and convert one bedroom into a playroom, but did not want to disrupt the views from the second floor or add a structure that would be distracting to the home’s natural forest surroundings.
We responded to these needs by designing a one-story masonry and cypress addition that is not visually disruptive to the surroundings and does not ruin the breathtaking views from the home’s second floor. The addition is connected to the main house by a narrow corridor that utilizes an existing window. The bedroom that is at this location is converted to a playroom/library.

The addition is a object which is visible from all sides and the top which made the roof an important part of the design. A metal roof would have created glare. A flat roof had the potential to look dirty and cluttered. A green roof was considered, but was found to be cost prohibitive to the client. Our solution takes the cypress that is used on the walls and wraps that cypress across the top of the building. The inspiration for the cypress roof was the clients furniture and a small meditation room they had built.
The result is a clean and cohesive look. When you are standing on the second floor of the home and look down towards the addition, it is almost as if you are standing on a ship’s bow and looking out towards the water.
A light slot around the sliding door facing the lake is meant to further emphasize and separate the wood elements from the masonry elements.