Trendspotting

New homes in Lee and Collier counties took a turn away from the tried-and-true this past year, opting for a bold approach in architecture and interior design. Judges for local building industry award programs singled out homes built by London Bay Homes and designed by Romanza as fresh and inventive. They also praised the attention to detail in new homes throughout Southwest Florida. Here's what's out there.

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Two builders departed from the norm this year, giving Southwest Florida something truly unique. Whether you call them Old World, Mediterranean, or California- or European-inspired, the island homes of WCI Communities' Tuscany Reserve and London Bay Homes' Mirada and Lucarno neighborhoods (in the Estuary and Mediterra, respectively) show real imagination. They abandon a predictable floor plan to play up their relationship to outdoor spaces-especially water-often viewed through arched loggias. Instead of giving away everything at the front door, these homes play the waiting game, enticing visitors through rustic hallways and arches, up stone staircases and outside-showcasing the more down-to-earth comforts sought by buyers who'd rather not show off their money.

WCI's field of dreams has literally risen from a field-on farmland adjacent to I-75. The builder's Toscana Island piazza homes have proven that film adage: Build it and they will come. The goal with these one-, two- and three-story homes, which share walls, "was to really capture the Tuscan feel," says Tuscany Reserve's project manager, Rob Gislason.

A romantic arched stone bridge leads to the manmade island, where three-story buildings rise from the water, offering curving patios, private courtyards and outdoor areas right on the water-some with small pools and spas. Inside, visitors find smaller-scale rooms and lots of intimate spaces. The three-story Residence 01 plan appears as if it was added to over time, with a design that wanders as it keeps an eye to the water and the outdoors. The homes' intimacy belies their size: The piazza floor plans range from 2,200 to 4,300 square feet.

London Bay's two villages came about more than three years ago when president Mark Wilson literally took to the road in search of something completely different. "There was a time when people from out of state were looking at Naples projects because we were innovators," he recalls. "Sales were going well and we were selling everything we built, but I felt there was a lot of repetition in the marketplace. We were all using the same architects, and the market was getting a little staid. I'd kept a file of award winners and literally got on a plane and visited them."

One California-based architect rose to the top of Wilson's short list: Mark Scheurer, whose vision of Florida estates relied on windows for light and breezes, and lots of outdoor spaces. The builder then assembled a team that included a professional colorist and a landscape architect well versed in designing Florida's Old World estates. They created villages of homes and villas linked by low fences, colorful tiles, stonework, exterior detailing and cobblestone streets. "We created a sense of place and the feeling of an older European village," says Wilson. "From the second floor of these homes, you can see the roof lines of the other houses."

The Bordeaux II, built by Bordeaux Homes and designed by Michael Valentine, puts a different spin on contemporary design. Abstract ceilings are reminiscent of early works by Kandinsky; mirrored ceiling details and flying-saucer lighting fixtures are balanced by an extravagantly decorated master bedroom with fawn-like carpeting and the gold folds of a drapery bed wall. This dizzying geometry of shapes in ceiling, floor and wall adds an extreme edge to otherwise traditional furnishings. White living room sofas are kicked up with zebra-print pillows and those disk-like lights; a neutral-hued modular sofa in the family room is poised under the mirrored-and-painted ceiling; and black granite kitchen counters are bored with decorative holes. "The house infuses modern design with traditional materials like granite and wood," says Bordeaux Homes president Nelson Bordeau.

AUTHENTIC INTERIORS

Along with innovative floor plans, London Bay and WCI challenged designers to create interiors that evoke strokes of fresh design. Rusticity and authenticity were the goals for designer Pamela Novakovich, who used stained and stenciled concrete for the foyer floor of an Island Toscana home. She also incorporated brick in the two-story family room to give it "a Tuscan wine room kind of feeling."

The walls of the third-floor billiards room boast a mural of an Italian countryside, and its circa-1890s doors are from France. Handmade furniture pieces give the décor a collected look, including a tall console table that substitutes as the traditional kitchen breakfast bar. "I tried to use the colors and materials you would find in Tuscany," says Novakovich. "Brick reds and earthy colors like greens and golds, interjecting black for some sophistication." In another homage to Tuscany, Novakovich wallpapered the entire living room and attached custom artwork to the wall of the African-mahogany-paneled elevator bank.

Romanza, which furnished the London Bay models, incorporated hand-painted tiles, custom finishes and light fixtures into the design of the Lucarno and Mirada homes. Interior architectural embellishments include varying ceiling heights to convey the feeling that the homes had been added to over time. Many of the ceilings boast hefty wood beams and give way to narrow archways; some interior rooms have stone walls.

CHANGING ROOMS

Versatility and multiplicity were the catch phrases in 2005. Floor plans for London Bay Homes' villas in Mediterra and single-family homes in the Estuary were designed with add-on spaces like libraries, game rooms and guest rooms. "They offer the adaptability to change the floor plan to meet an individual's lifestyle needs," Wilson says of his company's pre-priced options. Tuscany Reserve's piazza villas offer "multiple private living spaces that you can make whatever you want out of them," says Gislason. "There are a lot of private niches and spaces for hobby rooms, studies and dens."

SMALLER SPACES, SMALLER PLACES

This year, builders responded to buyer demand for less. Even homes in Port Royal and on Marco Island took on slightly smaller proportions than in the past, says Bill Weber, vice president of Naples' Weber Design Group. Weber, whose award-winning designs included a private home on Marco Island and a spec home in Port Royal, says both represent a tendency to scale down while making a statement with finishes and features like wood floors, large windows, tall ceilings and a dramatic radius staircase. Whittled down from an average of 5,000 square feet to 4,000 today, these homes still live large, peeking into adjoining spaces, upward to second-story lofts and out Palladian and mitered windows to large lanais, decks and balconies.

London Bay Homes' new designs scale back volume, not room sizes. "They're larger rooms by villa standards but they're not huge volume spaces," says London Bay Homes vice president Stephen Wilson. "They're houses people feel comfortable in, with rooms they will use." Adds Mark Wilson: "These homes feel warm and homey. They're not ostentatious with 25-foot ceilings. Our clients were saying these spaces have become too big, that they can't see themselves sitting in these large rooms."

The homes also include cozy little nook areas, private spaces like dinettes or reading areas, and several smaller gathering areas-inside and out-that cater to the need to connect with family and friends.

DETAILS, DETAILS

Landmark Design's Lou Shafran and her team of designers took home three Grand Aurora Awards for perfect scores. "Our clients are spending a lot of time thinking about every aspect of their home," she says. We put in a lot of effort to detail a home at the really high end. No area is less important than another."

For the Vittoria model in Mediterra, Shafran used a combination of onyx, marble and stone in the master bath, finished walls throughout with faux and Venetian plaster, and hand-painted murals in the dining room and kitchen. Woodwork in a guest cabana, which finds a wonderful spot at the front of the home overlooking a huge entry courtyard with fireplace and fountain, hides a television and miniature kitchen and is painted to match crown molding and baseboards.

DESIGN TRICKS

Not only did designer Jinx McDonald have to make the Trieste 606 model a quick sell, she had to overcome a major obstacle to an otherwise splendid Gulf view: an expansive span of concrete from a neighboring parking garage visible throughout the terrace railings. Using real-looking artificial plants made from a new synthetic that's weather-resistant, McDonald created a boxwood hedge set in stone planters that blocks the garage while taking the eye up and over to the water. Furnishings and an umbrella enhance the effect. Elsewhere, the high-rise home has a den converted into a room for him with four plasma TVs, a computer desk, sleeper sofa, snakeskin carpet and a poker table; a Zen-like guest room with grass-cloth walls and window coverings stained the same shade; and a show-stopping foyer that boasts a trellis-patterned floor of hand-scraped maple and honey onyx. "You come off the elevator and the entry can be such a dark, dismal, claustrophobic space," McDonald says.

In the living room, a pineapple chandelier is suspended from a hand-painted ceiling medallion, a combination McDonald notes is a creative solution to a common condo complaint. "The J-box is never centered over the coffee table, and in a condo you can't dig into the ceiling to move it. You have to find creative ways to run wire across the ceiling to where you want it."

LIGHT BRIGHT

London Bay Homes' new floor plans were designed as homes that function without the benefit of electricity-just like the gracious Florida homes from the turn of the 20th century. As a result, interiors gush with sunlight from windows that also welcome in breezes. "We purposely left windows untreated to speak to that time and place where windows provided ambient light and ventilation," says Trudy Slean, Romanza's director of business development. "It makes the transitions between the indoors and outdoors so seamless."

GREAT OUTDOORS

Each of Keevan Homes' three Pinnacle Award-winning homes has one thing in common: large outdoor spaces with custom pools and spas, plenty of spaces to gather, and summer kitchens. Two even have outdoor fireplaces. While homes may be shrinking inside, outside they're still living large in Southwest Florida, with more square footage dedicated to outdoor living and even more attention to detail. It's probably the one thing all homes here share. Some folks, says Weber, "are going outrageously elaborate outside. People are asking for fireplaces and fire pits outside, sports bars with TVs, tiki huts with thatched roofs. Basically we're turning outdoor areas into a backyard Tahiti or a sports bar in the islands."

The relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces has been a huge selling point for London Bay Homes' new designs. The plans offer three or more distinct outdoor spaces, including walled-in entry courtyards, loggias, pool areas, second-floor balconies, and public and private gathering areas. One model even has a raised quatrefoil water feature reminiscent of a rustic wishing well. Water is another central theme, provided by lakes and pools and spas that double as tranquil fountains and reflecting ponds.

"Space is allocated based on the priority of how it's used," says Slean. "In some cases we don't have a traditional formal living room or dining room. There are a couple of instances in our models where the living room is actually an outdoor loggia."

Many of London Bay's new models continue interior flooring (like terracotta) outside, and many of the ceiling details are just as extensive. One model has a rafter ceiling reminiscent of a shed or boathouse. "In a traditional villa, you tend to spend time in one space," Stephen Wilson says. "These are very different spaces that you'll spend time in during different times of the day."