WORLDS AWAY A modern Florida beach house borrows lessons from ancient Romans, creating an artful, elemental playground for a young family of six.

INTERIOR DESIGN BY SHIRLENE BROOKS ARCHITECTURE BY KHOURY & VOGT ARCHITECTS PHOTOGRAPHY BY M.K. SADLER OPENING PHOTOGRAPH BY JACK GARDNER STYLED BY GINNY BRANCH

WRITTEN BY ELLEN McGAULEY

In the central atrium (here and opposite), a niche is finished in linen-hued stucco. Flooring, Dominican shellstone. Onyx and teak table, Blaxsand.

VERANDA 91 OU CAN’T BUILD A HOUSE in the middle of the ocean,” admits Alys Beach, Florida, homeowner Dan Castro. “We knew this. But when our architects asked us what we wanted, we said, ‘Water, water, everywhere.’ We wanted to replicate what the ocean does for you, the way it relaxes you both physically and mentally.” Castro wasn’t speaking in abstracts. The ideas he developed with local architectural firm Khoury & Vogt for his family’s unbuilt beach house were precise and refreshingly original: among them, an ultra-serene master suite designed around an open-air courtyard and fountain; a rim overflow rooftop swimming pool; and a soaring, Pompeii-esque atrium with a glimmering splash pool. Novel as these feel behind the doors of an American beach house, they are fitting in the somewhat undiscovered coastal enclave of Alys Beach. Here, whispers of Antiguan and Guatema- lan architecture, with plentiful hits of Moorish influence, whoosh through lush allées and sun-drenched courtyards like white-hot secrets. It’s arguably the most low-profile of the New Urbanism resort communities along Florida’s western panhandle. “The town truly is a hidden treasure,” says Castro. His wife, Anna, grew up down the road in Destin (the couple’s full-time home is in Palm Beach), yet neither were familiar with the tiny town until they visited at the suggestion of her parents.

LEFT: A custom concrete dining table accompanies a white oak and marble island. Chairs, R Hughes.

ABOVE: Owners Dan and Anna Castro with (clockwise) Ava, 11; Chloe, 9; Leo, 3; and Sophia, 7.

OPPOSITE: The living room sofas (Restoration Hardware) are upholstered in Perennials linen. Chandelier, Illuminations.

92 VERANDA 93 ABOVE: “There are marathon games of hide-and- seek in this house,” says Dan, who worked with the architects to design a children’s suite (below) with a trio of platform beds.

AT RIGHT AND OPPOSITE: The master bedroom and bath are connected by an open-air courtyard. Accordion bifold doors close the spaces to the elements. Bath lighting, Apparatus.

“We felt like we were in a different world,” recalls Castro. “There’s a very European vibe here.” That’s all it took for the pair to seek out the very same design team—Marieanne Khoury-Vogt and Erik Vogt—who’d dreamed up the town’s expansive pool, with its romantic sun canopies and exotic mesh panels. The architects began drafting a plan for a 5,300-square-foot house that would draw upon northern and southern Mediterra- nean influences, including Moorish archways, decorative figural windows, and natural elements like oak and plaster. And there was, of course, plenty of water. “We had not done an atrium in a house before, but the notion was immediately appealing to us,” says Khoury-Vogt. Adds Vogt: “The idea draws from ancient Roman architecture; with a shallow pool forming the floor, it catches the rainwater and facilitates air circulation. So it essen- tially becomes the lungs of the house, along with a really beautiful social center for the family.” A wooden terrace overlooks the pool. “That’s why we designed the mosaic of dancing fish,” Khoury-Vogt says. “It’s visible from overhead, and mosaics in such pools were quite popular in classic Roman atrium houses.” It’s as big a hit with the Castros’ four children, who splash around in the limestone “fish pool” (as they’ve crowned it) while their parents make breakfast. And this brand of form-meets-

95 “The architecture of this home speaks volumes, so I felt like everything else needed to whisper.”

—SHIRLENE BROOKS, INTERIOR DESIGNER

ABOVE: The Castro children huddle on a 1 2 3 cool sun bed on the roof deck. Canopy and bed fabric, Sunbrella.

LEFT: A rim overflow rooftop pool overlooks ELEMENTS the Antiguan- and Guatemalan-inspired architecture of Alys OF STYLE• Beach and the Gulf of Mexico beyond. • • BELOW: Glazed ❶ In a powder room, a serpentine copper spout Moroccan tiles hovers over a tapered stone basin. ❷ Custom brighten the pool arched gates crafted of African mahogany allow bar. Tiles, Moorish light and air into the central atrium. ❸ Figural Architectural Design. stars carved into a painted paneled ceiling evoke Fixtures, Kohler. the night sky. The curtains are beaded steel. ❹ Double-height stairs lead to the two upper wings of the house (guest and childrens’ quar- ters). The railings are white oak. ❺ A scalloped star motif greets guests in the entry and repeats throughout the home. ❻ Smooth stuccoed concrete highlights the atrium chimney’s geometric form. ❼ A large decorative window ushers additional light into the master bedroom. family design was very much the point. “We wanted the house ❽ A linear drain filled with loose pebbles traces a to be versatile,” notes Castro. “Rooms designed so the kids can 8 path around the pool’s shellstone coping. 4 throw down and it’s appropriate, and you can invite friends over and be glamorous and it’s appropriate.” Atlanta-based interior designer Shirlene Brooks adopted a similar versatility with the fabrics and furnishings, imbuing rooms with a tactile, understated mix of creams, naturals, and whites (many in the form of performance Perennials fabrics); mixed into the ultra-quiet palette is a deep, saturated shade of blue borrowed from the Tyrrhenian Sea. “It mirrors the Gulf,” she says, noting the ocean is visible from many of the windows and in full resplendence from a stainless steel rooftop pool. “We’re up there year-round. The kids romp in the pool or just pile into the cabana chairs and read books,” says Castro. “They love this house as much as we do.” Still, he recalls one “mistake” he made. “One year on April Fools’ Day, I told them we were selling the Alys Beach house. It was a disaster. They all melted down, and I found myself shouting, ‘Whoa, just kidding, just messing around!’ ” he laughs. “But that’s the real beauty of this house. We love watching them grow up here and seeing our connection to

this home and to this beach build over time.” ✦ GARDNER JACK RIGHT: TOP PAGE, OPPOSITE 96 VERANDA 7 6 5