When architects build their dream homes, every detail tells a story of innovation, sustainability and deeply personal design. Here, four of Southwest Florida’s top visionaries invite us in.
JOYCE OWENS
Architecture Joyce Owens
You may not expect the Fort Myers modernist architect Joyce Owens to live in a stone-clad midcentury enclave; the homes she constructs along the beach on Sanibel Island are all rigorously geometric forms and sculptural volumes. But, she couldn’t resist the moody 1962 property she found off McGregor Boulevard in 2018. The home aligned with her adaptive reuse sensibility and career-long study of Sarasota Modern (the Southwest Florida take on midcentury modern). She was also hooked by the house’s story.
The 3,000-square-foot abode was built by a founder of the renowned local builder Michigan Homes as his personal home—and it had all the engineered excellence and crafted touches to prove it. “It was fantastic to find a house that was really unspoiled,” Owens says.
Certain outdated elements, like 60-year-old white wool carpets and linoleum floors, had to go, but much of the original structure remains. The floorplan takes advantage of its corner lot to maximize natural ventilation: Sliding glass doors in the living area stand opposite the dining room’s lanai doors, while a second set links the lanai to a side courtyard, creating cross-breezes throughout.
Owens relished a return to her early career days working on historic projects in London. Inside, she blended vintage aesthetics with modern elegance, knocking down a few walls to open the space and accommodate a reconfigured, sleek white kitchen. The midcentury character remains intact in the guest and primary bathrooms, with their vintage yellow (in the former) and blue (in the latter) bullnose tiles. “Isn’t it fun?” she prompts, pointing to the retro sunken shower and tub. “I was like, ‘I’m not touching these bathrooms’—they have so much charm.”
At the entrance, she ramped up the indoor-outdoor flow by turning planters into a winding rock garden that moves from the porch, under the front door, into the foyer. New mosaic pavers play off the orange and brown flagstone wall covering the facade. “I wanted to make sure anybody who walked into the house understood this is a midcentury house, and [the stones] are original,” she says.
Owens’ interpretation of architecture as a canvas shines in her ‘museum room’—a sitting area off the kitchen. Here, furnishings nod to the home’s historic presence—from an orange and teak Danish daybed playing off a geometric, pink lithograph from influential abstract artist Josef Albers to a 1965 Eames lounge chair in the corner. “Reuse,” Owens says. “Reuse the house; reuse the furniture.”
Her additions make the home more resilient in Florida’s climate: native plantings fare well in the rain and heat, and mini-split air conditioners in bedrooms allow for controlled cooling (and lower energy use). With each renovation, Owens respects the past. She’s currently redoing the patio, raising the roof by 10 feet, removing old columns and translating the foyer’s rock garden in the backyard. Next, she plans to replace the now-precarious concrete roof tiles with similar-looking, solar-paneled metal roofing from Worthouse. Everything works in harmony. “This is my dream,” Owens says. —Addison Pezoldt
Photography by Dan Cutrona
Photography by Dan Cutrona
Photography by Dan Cutrona
Photography by Dan Cutrona
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Photography by Dan Cutrona
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COPYRIGHT2024-DAN CUTRONA
In the ‘museum room,’ sliding doors open to a side courtyard. Owens preserved the original pathway but added native plantings for a greener, more resilient landscape.
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Photography by Dan Cutrona
The original orange and brown flagstone wall flows from the facade into the foyer, a outdoor connection of her 1962 home.
MICHAELA REITERER HENNING AND BRANDT HENNING
HLevel Architecture
Naples architects Michaela Reiterer and Brandt Henning designed their Oakes Estates residence as a family sanctuary and living portfolio of their firm HLevel Architecture’s sustainability-driven principles. Their eco-conscious ideology weaves through the 152-foot linear home, where a cupola runs the length of the structure like a spine, connecting the main structure (housing the kitchen, living room, their two teenage sons’ rooms and garage) to an independent primary bedroom wing, separated by a breezeway. “The kids have their own area, and we are far, far away,” Michaels says, laughing. “But it doesn’t matter—they’re still in our bed all the time.”
A modern take on Florida vernacular, the home flaunts ample covered outdoor spaces, a partial wraparound porch, shellstone pavers, operable windows along the cupola for rising hot air to escape, and a layout attuned to the sun’s movements. Walls are made of insulated concrete blocks that reduce heat gain, provide a more resilient alternative to wood-frame construction, and eliminate the need for mold-prone drywall.
The bricks are plastered into crisp white walls in some areas and remain raw and exposed in others. In the living room, they’re painted a striking matte black—a feature mirrored on the backside of the wall, facing the breezeway. “We wanted to celebrate the structure because that’s what we do all day long,” Brandt says. “It’s cool to be able to see that and show people, that’s how buildings are put together.”
Interior spaces flaunt resourceful material choices: polished concrete floors embedded with stone aggregates create a terrazzo-like effect; construction remnants become desks and dining tables; quarry stone from the property forms the kitchen island’s base. “We didn’t want any waste,” Michaela says.
Every choice balances aesthetics with functionality—from the south-facing sloped roof prepped for solar panels (a future step toward self-sufficiency) to the zone-controlled air conditioning system in the monolithic den attached to the main structure. Meanwhile, appliances are hidden behind sleek oak cabinetry, while matte porcelain counters echo the home’s earthy tones. Their two sons’ bedrooms adhere to the same ethos of practicality, with identically sized footprints, outfitted with efficient pull-out beds for sleepovers and intentionally pared-down curbless showers.
Out back—viewable through various picture frame windows—an untouched preserve offers views of wood storks and native flora. “We feel like we’re in the middle of nowhere, yet you can walk to Target,” Michaela says. The breezeway creates an elegant transition between the lush preserve and the resort-style front yard, where nearly 100% native plantings surround a scaled-down football field—one of several personal touches. Other nods include Michaela’s interior accents of her favorite color, yellow, punctuating Brandt’s preferred monochrome palette. An ode to sustainability, the home celebrates family life, flexible design and its Southwest Florida setting. — Stephanie Granada
Photography by Dan Cutrona
Photography by Dan Cutrona
Photography by Dan Cutrona
Courtesy RoseBudz Productions
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Courtesy RoseBudz Productions
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Courtesy RoseBudz Productions
The 152-foot linear home includes an isolated primary suite and monolithic den. In the primary wing, Michaela’s yoga platform overlooks the preserve. “Most of the year, we are surrounded by water,” she says. “It’s like an island.”
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Courtesy RoseBudz Productions
Every element is purposeful—from the exposed materials celebrating the structure to the foyer bridging the main door and garage. Knowing that families often enter the home from the car, the architects designed the space to serve both access points. “Otherwise, it’s a wasted space,” Michaela says.
DAVID CORBAN
Corban Architects
In the heart of East Naples, David Corban’s Haldeman Creek home captures the essence of Southwest Florida living. The two-story slice of paradise sits tucked away from the main road, reserved but inviting—a mirror of the architect who built it.
The 18-year-old home stands on the same lot where Corban and his wife, Carla, first settled in an old boathouse in 2000. A few years later, David, who loves to sail and chose the location partly for the canal’s unfettered access to the Gulf of Mexico, knew they had to upgrade to a more permanent setup as the family grew to include his daughter, Caroline. He envisioned a home on the same lot but with more space and room to dock his boat—all without further encroaching on the land. “I wanted the home to look ‘of its place,’” David says. “It almost looks like a riverboat over the water.”
The climate-responsive residence pays homage to the old boathouse, with its old-growth pecky cypress reclaimed as siding for the new home’s interiors: the naturally porous beams add texture to the kitchen island, living room ceiling beams, door and window trims, and the interior staircase. Outside, honey-colored cypress from Louisiana provides a cohesive siding that nods to the indoor space but is stronger and better equipped to withstand heavy winds and rain, and general wear and tear.
Old Florida Cracker houses and traditional Seminole chickees guided much of the residence’s aesthetic and engineering, including the raised form, sitting on wood pilings 11 feet above the ground, safe from flooding. The place has held up, surviving with minimal damage through five hurricanes (including Hurricane Charley during the home’s construction). “For Ian, we had 5 feet of water over our seawall, but the house was perfectly high and dry,” David says.
The home takes advantage of new technologies in its construction. Built on wood pilings, the structure rises through a series of engineered elements: a steel frame foundation supports glulam (layered, glue-laminated wood engineered to be more resilient) beams and columns that carry the weight of the roof and floors. Other modern features include a retractable sunshade with easy-operating aluminum beams on the wraparound porch and deep overhangs with exposed timber rafters, which continue into the main living area, extending the structural rhythm from outside to in.
Twelve sliding glass doors and operable windows cover the sunset-facing western side overlooking the water, shaded by overhangs. The setup allows abundant natural light and cross-breezes to drift through the space (five similar setups are cleverly placed throughout the rest of the home). By taking advantage of robust materials and Southwest Florida’s natural systems, the innovative house functions as an autonomous machine. David’s philosophy: the home is a living thing, and it should work for you. —A.P.
Photography by Ed Chappell
Photography by Ed Chappell
at home with architects corban
Photography Ed Chappell
Photography by Ed Chappell
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Photography by Ed Chappell
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Photography by Ed Chappell
David and his wife, Carla, designed, the home with clean lines and minimalist interiors, directing focus to the surrounding views. Large overhangs offer shade and storm protection.
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Photography by Ed Chappell
at home with architects corban
The architect repurposed old-growth pecky cypress from his former boathouse for the living area’s framing. Flooring made from bamboo—a rapidly renewable resource—extends throughout the home.