Tropical rooms in tropical homes include outdoor bar areas, with breezy shelter beneath a rotunda or lanai, perfect for solo lounging or for entertaining guests. These spaces can be sheltered by columns but still open, providing outdoor rooms with cooling tropical breezes encircling the space---vital to year-round outdoor living.
Overhead fans can be set to lazily stir the air on sultry evenings, while cooling mists rise from pools and the waterway. These outdoor spaces are the perfect place for dining alfresco, or for serving up an impromptu tray of tempting colorful fruits and icy drinks.
The formal architecture in Florida's custom homes is often in the front of the house, keeping the home private while the back usually opens more informally to the views allowing transparency to the waterway.
We have a wonderful quality of light in the topics and Florida's waterfront homes make fantastic use of the five senses. Sight, sound, smell, touch and taste are evident everywhere; even our landscape supports edible fruits. Water comes fully into play in tropical homes, both visually and in the actual cooling.
Connections between indoor and outdoor spaces visually blend the indoors to the outdoors.
Tropical architecture sometimes calls to mind a Polynesian ideal, with thatched overhangs and simple unadorned natural spaces cooled only by tropical breezes. But, we in Florida are faced with additional realities---a need for weather protection and climate control. "Open" homes have to be balanced with the need for privacy and security, as we are not alone on our tropical paradise.
