Pine Tree designed by SAOTA, Open plan living and the ability to live in and through your home has inspired this transparent and easy-living family home. Set between the Indian Creek Canal and Pine Tree Drive in Miami?s historic Collin?s Waterfront district, the SAOTA-designed space is expansive and fluid ? opening up to the activity of the canal when desired, or contained when privacy is needed.

Set on a strongly linear proportioned site, the building is porous, bringing the landscape and water bodies into the interior of the house to create a greater sense of space.
Photography: Dan Forer
Through the introduction of a number of introverted and extroverted courtyards, the house boasts views to the outside in two directions. These views are visible from almost any point in the house, creating a tangible and immediate relationship to the outdoors.
?The design is as much about containment as it is about the views through the many living spaces, towards the Atlantic Ocean and world-renowned Miami Beach,? says SAOTA director, Philip Olmesdahl. ?While the overall contemporary architectural design is a key focus of the SAOTA design team, the use and connectivity of the spaces is the primary driver – how the house lives.?

The approach to living on the water is a unique Miami experience and something SAOTA sought to reinforce, in keeping with the continuous summers in Miami. In total, the size of the overall body of water on the site is about half the space of the six-bedr...