Nokomis Waterfront

Dane Spencer Landscape Architecture transforms a waterfront home in Sarasota County.

Landscaped terraces and beach-inspired plantings help reconnect the pool area with the waterfront in this Med-Rev home

The Hubbard Residence in Nokomis, Florida, needed refreshing and a transformation. The owner wished to expand an existing pool deck and incorporate more usable space toward the waterfront. The challenge was to create a landscape that would ground the Mediterranean-style home, while addressing current code restrictions that require the pool deck and finished floor of the residence to be high in the air. The house and pool deck seemingly floated above – and separate from the water and adjacent landscape. Integrating the elements of the water, seawall, ground plane and elevation of the existing pool deck was essential to ensure the success of this design.

Solution

The addition of curvilinear walls allows appropriate and gentle grade changes, creating more usable space near the water while bringing the architecture back to scale. The walls provided planting areas for a lush tropical landscape. Toward the waterfront, native beach species were used to re-create a beach feel that had disappeared because of the existing bulkhead. The overall effect is quite natural – harmonizing the plantings with the walls, the crushed shell pathway and the architecture.

• Native plants mixed with sub-tropicals

• Water-efficient micro head irrigation
• Beach plantings to reconstruct a natural beach feel, providing habitat for native wildlife
• Crushed-shell path fosters an-on-the beach feeling, with beach sand in planting beds instead of mulch