Happy Labor Day – and if you celebrate Rosh Hashanah: a Sweet and Happy New Year to You!

 

 Modernist Stained-glass Window in Lake Worth, Florida. ©tckaiser

Modern Public Architecture: Cultural Center & Library in Pompano Beach, Florida

What is it:
  New two-story, 46,000 sf library, cultural center building and civic campus adjacent to City Hall, replacing the old library on E. Atlantic Boulevard open from from 1952 until November 2017.
  The new facility features a standard library, media labs, 5,000sf of theater/flex event space and an exhibition gallery of 750sf. Construction included also a multipurpose room, three tutoring rooms, a group study room, conference room, storytelling/program room, computer lab and the Teen Tech Studio, which is designed to encourage young adults to creatively explore digital media.
  The new library houses a collection of approximately 50,000 items including books, DVDs, CDs, publications and reference materials.
  Site improvements included a new civic plaza featuring raised planter areas, street furniture, a lightning bolt plaza and a new paved breezeway connecting the parking areas to the civic plaza.

Read on about more building and construction details and see all the photos on https://www.modernsouthflorida.com/modernist-angle-blog/modern-architecture-in-public-cultural-center-library-in-pompano-beach-florida

High Times on Miami Beach?

On January 2, 2018, in an article entitled “Florida Could Be Close to a Real Estate Reckoning,” the Insurance Journal suggested that “one of the great mysteries of climate change isn’t scientific but psychological: When will the growing risks associated with rising seas and more severe storms begin to affect home values in otherwise desirable coastal markets?”

The article continued: “Nowhere is that question more pressing than South Florida, which has some of the country’s priciest properties—and some of the most vulnerable. A state built on real estate speculation, whose chief attribute was proximity to the water, now faces a whole new problem: There’s not enough land, high enough above the water, for its residents to pull back from the rising seas. By the end of the [21st] century, database company Zillow Group estimates, almost a half-million Miami homes could be—literally—underwater. That’s more than anywhere else in the country.”

Fast forward to December 21, when The Real Deal newsletter reported that home buyers and builders in Miami Beach have seized upon one immediate, if not visionary, solution to rising sea levels and the growing threat of flooding:

Higher stilts.

Elevated living quarters already a building requirement in the Florida Keys and on Key Biscayne, in July last year Miami Beach eased its restrictions on the height limit beneath single-family homes, which was set at seven feet (2.31 m). With approval from the city’s Design Review Board, owners and builders can now use pilings, or stilts, to raise the first floors of their homes up to 15 feet (4.95 m) – as architect Rene Gonzalez is proposing for his own house in the Venetian Islands.

“For now, Miami Beach’s elevated home designs mostly cater to luxury construction because of prohibitively high costs,” The Real Deal article states. “But in the future, industry experts said, those projects will become more common as designs are modified, prices drop and flood insurance rates rise.”

Patrick Dwyer, a wealth advisor with Merrill-Lynch, hired the renowned Miami firm Arquitectonica to design his two-story, $5 million house, which will sit high above Lucerne Avenue. Asked about the elevation he required, Dwyer said, “This seemed like a no-brainer. If you’re in Miami Beach and you’re not thinking about sea level rise, then you don’t really understand what’s to come.”

Difficult subject? Certainly. Can we – owners, buyers, Realtors, the public – close our eyes and make it go away? Most certainly not.

My question to Florida home owners and buyers: does this subject influence your purchase or ownership decisions, and if so how?

Looking forward to hear from you, here in the comment section or at tobias@modernsouthflorida.com.
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Photo: Modern beachfront/waterfront home by architect Toshiki Mori on North Casey Key, Florida, with 7,100+ sf, six bedrooms, nine bathrooms, den and bonus room on the interior, swimming pool and guest house. Off-market.

It Caught My Eye: A Mid-Century Modern Gas Station

A1A Gas, discovered on A1A in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, in the northeastern tip of Florida.  On top of the lovely design, the attendant was super friendly.

Now, where would you rather fill up – at a corporate-designed Citgo or at this little jewel?

Move-In Day for a Modernist House

Move-in Day!

After a full 24 months construction period (programming and permits not included), last weekend my clients finally moved into their truly modernist Fort Lauderdale home.

Stats:

2-story single family home
5,511 sf (496 m2) under air
17,400 sf (1,566 m2) waterfront lot
5 BRs, 4.5 baths, pool, gym, theatre, dog room, house fully connected
Construction period: pilings began Aug 2013, completion date August 2015
Construction budget: withheld

Here are some shots from the end of what was a very long move-in day:

The house is stricking when you approach it, especially at the dusky light I took these photos (with a Sony Xperia phone, mind you).

But even having worked as an owner's representative and consultant on this project from the start, and having been on site regularly for nearly three years, it remains fascinating.

Case in point: how the Lautner edge of the pool visually vanishes into the Intracoastal Waterway is fantastic. If you look closely, you only can differentiate pool and Intracoastal by the difference in the water surface.

Interested in building or buying a home like this? I can help; just ask.
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(All photos except aerial ©tckaiser – use or copying prohibited.)

Three Books on Modern Architecture in Florida

On modern architecture in Florida, there are three interesting books I would like to share with you:

100 Florida Architects and Interior Designers
by Damir Sinovcic and Beth Dunlop (2010). Hardcover, $45.00

100 Florida Architects and Interior Designers presents the work of creative design professionals whose diverse backgrounds and design philosophies are shaping the built environment of the southernmost state in the continental US. The book showcases a vibrant cross-section of work that ranges from single-family homes and museums to luxury resorts and civic buildings. 100 Florida Architects and Interior Designers highlights well established designers alongside emerging professionals. (Source: amazon.com)


Florida Modern: Residential Architecture 1945 - 1970
by Jan Hochstim and Steven Brooke (2005). Hardcover, $26.95

A lovely book with truckloads of information, but in my opinion, the design is maddening. If not for the wealth of information, you will want to throw it through the window. Even a closed louvered one.

Agrees Robin Benson on amazon.com: Jan Hochstim has clearly done a lot of research for this book and it will probably be regarded as the definitive study of the Modern house in Florida. As with many historical architectural studies, it is obviously very visual but unfortunately the presentation of the copy and photos are pretty hopeless. Many of the pages give the impression that amateurs designed them.


Miami Architecture: An AIA Guide featuring Downtown, The Beaches, and Coconut Grove
by Allan T. Shulman, Randall C. Robinson Jr. and James F. Donnelly (2010). Paperback, $25.70

The collaborative work of Allan T. Shulman, Randall C. Robinson Jr., and James F. Donnelly, "Miami Architecture" is a 352-page illustrated guide to the impressive diversity of architecture and landscape design. Covering the distinctive architectural elements and examples, "Miami Architecture" is a superbly organized, deftly presented, and thoroughly 'user friendly' guidebook covering the cities of Miami and Miami Beach with each specific, succinctly descriptive entry cited with its address. A core addition to academic library American Architectural History reference collections, "Miami Architecture" is also specifically recommended as a supplementary tour guide for the non-specialist general reader with an interest in Miami's regional architectural history. (Source: Midwest Book Review)


All three books available through amazon.com

Chance Encounters with Modern Architecture (3)

"Chance Encounters with Modern Architecture" is meant as a postcard of sorts, of unexpected finds of modern architecture – or perhaps art – which caught my eye.


Today: Townhouse Development in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

What is it: A 14-unit townhouse complex, arranged in two blocks of seven units, with an alleyway on the longitudinal axis for garage access. Built in 2007, architect unknown.

Each townhouse is three stories, has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, approx. 2,300 sf (205 sm) under air and comes with a garage as well as small front yard.

The rectangular site of approx. 205 x 147 feet is located just south of downtown Fort Lauderdale, two lots off Federal Highway, a major north-south road, and a short distance from the Fort Lauderdale harbour and airport.

Last recorded selling prices for the townhomes hover around $70/sf, a substantial drop from their peak asking prices of ca. $240/sf.

Why did it catch my eye: The façade has an interesting, slightly nautical motif and clearly defines the individual units, with a glass-enclosed entryway between two units. Unfortunately, on closer inspection not all details seem really thought through, even for a layperson, and the exterior at least has suffered visibly in the five years since construction.

I came across this development by leaving the parking lot of an adjacent McDonalds through the side exit, otherwise I would driven by it again as I did hundreds of times before. 

Where is it: 701-729 SE 16 Court, Fort Lauderdale, FL. Location map

Photos ©tckaiser

The South Florida Housing Market in March; OT: Mac Virus

Today, two topics: the market for single family homes in March, and as an Off-Topic ("OT"), a virus targeted at Macs.

First, the market:

As the home-buying season begins in earnest in many parts of the country, Southeast Florida – which enjoyed an unusually mild winter, to the dismay of many including me – continues on its path of odd market behaviour, namely rapidly shrinking inventory accompanied by mildly rising asking and selling prices.

As dramatic as the numbers for single family home sales are, looking at the Tri-County area won't tell the whole picture, so I will briefly point out some of the differences between Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade.

Inventory: Palm Beach is the shrinkage leader, with 4.6 months (means: at the current speed of sales, there would be no more homes for sale in 4.6 months. A balanced inventory is assumed at approx. six months), followed by Dade with 5.3. and Broward with 6.7 months. All three counties show a substantial decrease month over month as well as compared to last year.

Asking prices: Palm Beach is the most expensive at $399,000 (median asking prices of all single family homes), then Dade with $320,000 and Broward at $289,000. The same goes for asking prices per sf, ranging from $164/sf to $143/sf.

Selling prices: Here is where it gets interesting. Palm Beach median selling prices beat Broward only by the width of an eyelash, with Dade at the end. So, what happened to those higher asking prices in Palm Beach?

Pouffff!

Buyers in Palm Beach simply did not honour the seller's demands. They beat them down or flocked to Broward, where houses in March sold faster and at 5 percent higher price per sf than in Palm Beach (or Dade). Interesting, no? Note to sellers and their Realtors: this is not a Seller's Market, despite the lack of selection in certain areas as well as prices brackets.

This week by the way I learned that Realtors© – but not the public – will very soon have access to monthly market data by zip code. That indeed is lovely and constitutes an excellent research tool. The FAR (Florida Association of Realtors©) has contracted with a research firm to supply those data to its members; when the data bonanza begins I do not know yet.

OT: A Mac Virus

In my office as well as at home, I use Macs exclusively, so the appearance of a serious virus targeting Macintosh computers this week caught my attention.

The thing is called Flashback, technically not a virus but malware. Read on cnet.com what's it all about and what you can do against it, in case you use Macs and haven't taken any counter measures yet.

But wait – there's more!

The German news weekly Der Spiegel has even more detailed recommendations than cnet, but you have to read German to make real use of the article.

However, two recommendations from the Spiegel piece are worth mentioning:
1. the free Sophos Antivirus tool works very well,
2. my browsing experience with the recommended "NoScript" Firefox extension – blocking Java scripts on your web pages which is Flashback's method of infiltration – is less than enjoyable.

Actually, it's a pain in the butt.

Worth it? Highly likely. Will I keep it? Dunno yet.