Town Green Building
Local Architectural Elements
Located in Seaside, a beachfront town on the western coast of Florida, this project is a mixed-use building with retail space, offices, and residential units. The building faces the town square and is connected to the adjacent buildings by a continuous arcade, mandated by Duany Plater-Zyberk's master plan guidelines for the town. The building aspires to a strong civic expression and to a memorable and appropriate character, specifically suited to Seaside. Therefore, the shared architectural elements, the overlapping "myths," of the Gulf of Mexico and its Caribbean and Mexican imagery, of Florida and its Hispanic and Mediterranean resorts, and of Seaside and its traditional urbanity are all reinforced.
-
Client: Seaside Development Corporation
Location: Seaside, FL
Year: 1990-1995
Status: Built
-
Citation in Architecture | Progressive Architecture 40th Annual Award | 1993
Unbuilt Design Award | The Florida Association of the American Institute of Architects | 1991
Citation for Excellence in Architecture | Boston Society of Architects | 1990
-
Kahn, Eve. "Florida's Answer to Kansas." The Wall Street Journal, May 19, 1995.
"Fortieth Annual Progressive Architecture Awards." Progressive Architecture, January 1993: pp. 58-61.
Climate Conditions
The climatological factors, influential to the evolution of the specific building types in these regions, characterize the project: generous roof overhangs, shutters and shading devices, tall ceilings with fans, and screened porches. The public facade is the primary elevation of the building which overlooks the town square. It has a scale and character commensurate with the public nature of the important space it addresses.
Creating a Vivid Space
To articulate both the civic and domestic nature of the program, the facade is treated as a large, almost monumental, screen in front of a series of domestic units, marked by box windows and individually pitched roofs. The residential patio, located at the center of the building, is the means of accessing all the residential units. The brilliant colors and bold tile patterns of the patio are used to create an unexpectedly vivid, memorable space. An adjacent garden terrace, overgrown with climbing vines, acts as a counterpoint to the residential patio, with a view to the ocean.