Projects

Florida Coastal Mid-Century Modern

A contemporary oceanside home welcomes the full extended family with plenty of indoor-outdoor space to share.

Breaking the mold of its architecturally uninspired neighborhood, this mid-century modern jewel stands out from the crowd. Designed for a multigenerational family, the Ponte Vedra dwelling encourages connectedness while respecting privacy. The finished home is an extension of their bond—a centralized space for sharing and structurally segmented areas for peace and solitude. The Florida climate lent the architect plenty of opportunity to create indoor-outdoor spaces that would be in use year-round.

The beachside location, just east of Jacksonville, Florida, sits one block away from the sandy coastline of the Atlantic Ocean. Suffice it to say, the unforgiving tropical weather meant that the home, not to mention its windows and doors, would need to regularly withstand gale force winds, sweltering heat, and constant moisture. The harsh elements also posed a challenge to the indoor-outdoor living that the family wanted to enjoy for their space.

The homeowners had a fondness for mid-century architecture, which came up early in the home design conversations. Glenn Dasher of Dasher Hurst Architects found inspiration in the Ponte Vedra homes of yesteryear, picking up cues in the form of planter walls, patterned sunscreens, and shading overhangs that bedecked dwellings across the sandy coastline.

Dasher understood the needs of the family and approached it the way he would any other project, building around the lives of those who would share the home.

“When I start drawing, I start small, I have to look at the relationships without getting lost in the specifics and details.” The Farahs wanted their “empty nest” to fill with three generations of extended family, so having enough entertaining space for aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews, became central to the design.

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Project Team

Design: Dasher Hurst Architect

Builder: Horn Builders Inc.

Dealer: Coastal Sash & Door

Creating Common Ground

This inspired Dasher to focus on the central common area and build adjacent wings of the structure—keeping the family closer to where they could enjoy the expansive space that could easily extend outdoors into a back courtyard. “We wanted to try and keep it more focused on their space and less on the neighbors.”

Dasher brought with him a contracting team experienced in commercial builds, taking their expertise in public/shared spaces and engaging it with a residential project.

“They had done nothing like this before,” he said. “I knew it was a big challenge for them.” But Dasher had confidence in their ability to make this home a reality.

First imagining the exterior as a storefront with clean lines and open views of the interior, Dasher pushed his vision for the residence even further, creating ample common space that felt central, open, and accessible for the wide range of family and guests that would fill its walls.

“There’s a center line that runs right through the house, north to south, so when you’re in that main living room space, there’s a corridor that connects on the east and west side, so it’s a linear connection through the house from one end to the other.”

While connecting the family through the central living area was pertinent, Dasher’s challenge was how to separate the adjoining rooms and spaces. He chose to build outward with functional “zones,” where structural walls and overhangs could provide much-needed privacy from within. Scaling back the structure from the connecting street, the geometry of the mid-century modern architectural style aimed to maximize lot size while separating sightlines from the neighbors in close proximity.

Pieced Together to Perfection

With the plan for the home in place, Dasher honed in on Marvin windows to outfit the spaces.

“We caught a good balance between practicality, the market, and assurance on the installation. But we still got the window sizes, proportions, and arrangements that we wanted aesthetically.”

With expansive Marvin Ultimate windows that wrapped around the front and side of the home, Dasher arranged the windows to create a seamless source of light and comfort, making the interior living space feel even more expansive. This elegant solution invited the Florida sunshine in while keeping the interior safe from extreme weather, thanks to impact-resistant glass that adhered to the Sunshine State’s building code for the coastal area.

Dasher also incorporated multiple-level sunscreens for a textured element reminiscent of the mid-century modern homes of years past—creating an indoor-outdoor effect that aligned with the home’s larger design and purpose.

A wealth of architectural ingredients were utilized in this one-of-a-kind dwelling and it was trusted to Marvin to provide windows to meet Dasher’s vision and endure the subtropical oceanside climate.

“What you’re getting is worth the money. Working with the windows and getting the details right was as good as I could have expected.”

What you’re getting is worth the money. Working with the windows and getting the details right was as good as I could have expected.”

Glenn Dasher

Architect

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Exterior of home with Marvin Signature Ultimate Direct Glaze windows.