Inside One Of The Best Architectural Homes In Florida

Home and House
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7 Video Views·Nov 13, 2024
Architecture & Engineering
Hello everyone, welcome to the Luxury Home Show. My name is Ralph Choeff.
I'm founding partner of the firm Choeff Levy Fishman in Miami, Florida.
And I want to take you through this beautiful 14,200 square foot residence in Boca Raton,
Florida, designed in the typical tropical modern style that our firm is accustomed to designing.
So as you come in, you're going to see this cascading water wall, but the purpose of this
cascading water wall is twofold. Number one, it hides the garage, which is entered from the other
side. So no one knows there's a garage. And the second, it's a beautiful cascading water feature
and the sounds are very soothing. So they take you right on through to the entry.
If you keep panning around, you'll see that it's a reflecting pond that kind of encompasses the
front of this residence, which gives the residence itself a floating effect. Notice how the water
actually goes in under the elements that are cantilevered and it looks like you're floating
on water. Then you have this beautiful sculpture in the front, these two heads,
which also seem to appear as they're coming from the water. In order to blend all the
aesthetics together, we have this grand driveway that fits many cars and what it's made from are
precast concrete that are polished to the gradient or to the granules inside. So it's
almost gives it a terrazzo effect and it has turf in between the joints. Notice how we kind of change
the pattern there so we don't look like we're monotonous in this design. The house has many
levels, many cubes. It's a very sculptural residence in its architecture. And we'd like to
take you through the house inside now. So as I'm walking inside the house, I'm walking on stepping
stones that are raised from the reflecting pond. The water comes underneath and you will feel as
if you're walking on water. The same thing happens in the entry stairs as you're coming up
and then of course you approach the all glass 12 foot high pivot front door.
So here we enter the residence which is about 14,200 square feet in size and we have a 12 foot
high glass door framed with glass on either side of it. So any person coming up to the house can
see through and through into the rear which frames the pool, the pond, and the golf course.
And as you're walking into the house you see a 130 foot long skylight which frames the left side
and the right side of the house and have different uses. So if you notice there is no artwork on the
walls here and that's done on purpose because we want the architecture to read. And that's why
there is no artwork on either side and you'll see if you look straight this is the opposite
end of the entry and that shows you the swimming pool with the fire pit lounge that's sunken into
the pool, the pond beyond it, and and the golf course. And here we walk into the living room
which is directly opposite the entry. This is the first room that one approaches and it has
very unusual lighting that lights up the space. It has a great see-through ribbon fireplace you
see from here into the lounge. The rest of it is framed with a resin material and then you have an
art niche that goes all the way up that complements the fireplace. So this entire central area is
really a work of art. As you can see these people, these owners are really art collectors
so they have it wherever they can. And our centerpiece is a Steinway piano that has a
lucite top which is a beautiful complement to everything we have here. The interior designer
was Deborah Wexelman on this project and she worked directly with the owners and ourselves
to create this look that you see here. And as we walk from the actual living room
we're now walking into a more casual space which is the we'll call it the game room and the bar.
This is the other side of the see-through fireplace which we just talked about. When you
open these doors fully you have an indoor-outdoor feel so when you're sitting inside you feel like
you're outside and vice versa. Here we have the pool table that complements the bar and the bar
behind the bar there's a refrigerated wine display. The bar itself has some excellent
liquors and it has very top shelf and then you have these rare wines behind it in the in the
wine display. To get into the wine display you come in through this door and everything
in this room is refrigerated. You get to really be with the wine that you're going to choose
and it causes a very intimate experience in the residence itself. And as we exit the
temperature controlled refrigerated wine display we again come back to the bar area where you'll see
a an onyx top and waterfall which is completely lit up and makes the bar also the bar itself a
piece of art within the residence. Right across from this room is the movie theater so if I open
the door to the movie theater all of a sudden I enter a soundproof room and as I enter the
soundproof room we have three levels of comfortable chairs to watch movies and we're
sitting here looking at the screen in this very intimate darker soundproof room which makes the
viewing experience quite special. As we come out of the theater room we walk down the skylight
gallery and we come across to the office suite of the residence and as we walk into the office
itself we have the office which is surrounded by reflecting ponds cascading water walls you hear
the sound of the water which is very relaxing very soothing and you have his and her office space
right here you can get a better feel for the dual desks and the intermediate wall
that separates them and as we come out of the office we're now approaching the main entry to
the residence itself which is washed with natural light. To the right of the entry we have this
beautiful powder room which is very subtle in its color tones and and its materials and then right
across from the powder room we have a beautiful piece of art that just leads you into the dining
area and the kitchen itself and as we approach this area of the house it's really the dining
kitchen lounge area in combination keeping with the open plan that we have so we have an informal
dining area and it's separated for the formal dining area with a gradient colored glass panel
that we have here if you notice the floss lighting that covers the two informal tables it's just
another piece of art within the house that has a function so if I walk in this direction I have
this incredible piece of art here that has a an ocean and with the waves and video and then you
have the still of the chair it's a fabulous combination of the two media and I love it
so in this area of course we have the more formal dining which leads us to the kitchen so the kitchen
is wood it's a granite product and it's also mirrored cabinets up above if you notice it's
very monochromatic and if you look at this wall this wall is all flush and it's part of the
kitchen it has a hidden area for all your appliances and some pantry and all the actual
ovens and refrigerators are all built into the wall itself so it looks like it's part of the
architecture dividing these two cabinets is a large piece of glass that lets natural light
into the kitchen as well as it frames the sculpture at the end of this hallway which is
and if I walk over this way I have the lounge and the lounge is something that we'll sit in
we'll watch tv on we'll relax and we can also feed ourselves from the kitchen itself it also
opens out into the pool area so you can use the lounge and kitchen in conjunction with the pool
so if you walk out here this is off the informal dining and what it is
is a series of sliding doors that lead to sliding doors on the opposite side
which is the living room and you can walk across here from one area to the other if without having
to go all the way around when you're having a party or a get together this cascading water
wall with a with a pool with a reflecting pool leads directly into the actual pool and it has
one large water feature that's what it forms so it's a really interesting kind of resort-ish type
design and as we come out of the dining area we see that we have sliding glass doors that's
fully open and pockets so it seems like there's no door here which lets the inside become the
outside and the outside become the inside we have this lounge area as soon as you walk out
and as you could if you take a look at that and this you can't you blur the lines between what's
inside and outside you come across a summer kitchen with television covered dining and if
you notice there's slits on these uh ceilings and that's those are insect screens that actually come
down and protect the residents from insects if you want to walk into this area right here
this is our hot spa which blends in with the pool and surrounded by shallow water
for the kids to play or just to have it as a reflecting pond and then i'm going to walk around
here and going to walk across the stepping stones that flank the pool from the shallow waters if i
walk across the stepping stones on this side i can either have the shallow water and then go into
the pool proper or i can actually come down to my sunken fire pit where the shoulder when you sit
down is at the same elevation as the water so you're surrounded by water on all sides and then
have a fire pit right in the center of it again you're facing the pond and the golf course across
from it and this works great with what's happening inside the house as you can see those doors are
fully open to the area that's the lounge and the bar and they work in conjunction with the pool
again blurring the lines from inside to outside if i continue walking down the rear of the house
again here's the area of the lounge and the bar where it works directly with everything that's
happening outside again blurring the lines for inside for outside i keep walking i have my master
suite which faces the the pool and faces the pond and the golf course with a covered lounging area
right off the pool and the master suite itself that's what makes the rear of the yard feel like
a resort we want it to feel very zen very calming very tranquil so we make it feel like a resort
and as we continue on in the rear of the residence we have our gym over there that
again faces the pool and now we have our primary suite which has dual opening sliding glass doors
on both sides so when you're in bed you can literally feel like you're outside by the pool
or by the pond by the golf course you have complete connectivity you have a beautiful sculpture here
at the end of the pool that it's of a lifeguard and it kind of frames the pool itself if you look
at it on access from the end you have an owner's suite that is an exterior lounge really and it
comes off the primary suite and you have lounge chairs that again face the pond face the water
itself from the pool and faces the golf course and then you have a beautiful lawn a manicured
at the rear yard in this area and you could see the rear of the house from this view uh
its lineality its movement its indoor outdoor effect and you get the full perspective of what
we're trying to do in this in this residence from this view i think that covers the exterior
so let's go inside and talk about and see the actual bedrooms
and in this area we have the guest and children's bedroom and this is a central lounge to all the
bedrooms so it's a place where the family can come at night they can speak they can watch tv
together so we're going to enter the guest room and the guest room has its own bathroom has its
own closet and of course full sliders and the sliding glass doors give you an indoor outdoor
effect you have a balcony and you have the reflecting pond in front of it for that very zen
feel it's a really cool guest room the interior designer did a wonderful job with the materials
and giving this room a natural effect so let's continue on and if we continue on you have
one of the children's rooms this is the room for the girl and we have a closet here
and we have a bathroom here and then this is the actual bedroom itself and all the bedrooms are
themed so they're not random they're actually themed so this is this one is for the the girl
in the grandchildren then you have the boy and or boys in the grandchildren they have their own
bathroom again their own closet and this is a lego themed room so if you look around the room
it's oversized legos with a bunk bed and a little staircase that goes up to the upper
bunk bed to make it easier and the staircase is actually they're actually drawers that pull out
for storage then we have another room here and this is the children's playroom
if you notice it's also themed a little bit differently and they have their sitting chairs
they have their toys to play with and a full toy closet in here as well again sliding glass doors
give you that indoor outdoor feel and its own bathroom they need to use the bathroom we go to
this keith harring themed bathroom which is very cool now we're going to go into the primary suite
which is a mind-blowing area of the house it's beautiful it's big and it's very very functional
for the owners so as we walk in we have this very large pivot door and you walk into a sitting room
that you have the two lounge chairs you can watch tv you have a morning kitchen to fix yourself up
coffee or you can do it at night for wine and maybe some snacks if i open up this very large
pivot door i actually enter the main primary suite bedroom it has the view of the lake it
has the view of the pool it has sliding glass doors on both sides that open up
very tall ceilings like the rest of the house from this room i'm walking into through a very
large pivot door her closet if you look at her closet it's sectionalized into shoe storage
handbag storage and of course clothing it's quite a large quite a large we'll call it her
wardrobe and this side from the closet from her wardrobe you approach her bathroom and it has a
chair for hairstyling and it has a tub it has a beautiful open shower and of course it has a
with its own private toilet room so now if i walk across this area i open up this
large pivot door as we walk into this area it's the primary suite his bath so he's got a fully
glass enclosed steam shower with a huge rain head and a great sitting bench he's got a private
toilet room and he's got his large vanity with his built-in sink and from here you can walk
directly into the master or i'm sorry into the primary closet and when you walk into the primary
closet you see the shoes and the everything is is put away systematically it's a beautifully done
you have all his clothing in this area and as you walk out you walk out through this pivot door and
you wind up back in the sitting room that's adjacent to the to the primary suite from here
we can walk to the gym and as we walk into the gym we have a full gym with a stairmaster weights
we have the kettle balls and then we also have walls that are made of a resin material that
simulate concrete so it's a mixture of concrete and wood and that's the theme of this gym which
is the theme in most gyms it's very complete gym and the owners get to work out here every day
and as we walk this way through the residence we come upon adjacent to the kitchen we come
upon a staff kitchen or a catering kitchen where all the catering is done if you have a party
or if you don't want to get your kitchen dirty this is the staff kitchen where you would cook
then we have a very large walk-in pantry the area that i'm in right now is the staff bedroom area
and the laundry room area so all services are here but i think what you'll really like to see
is actually the garage when you step into the garage you'll find it it's kind of unusual as
there is full frameless glass facing the street side so people can actually see the collection of
antique cars that the owner possesses also the garage doors are all glass as well which light
up the space beautifully you continue on you have room for eight cars on lifts and you have an
additional car or two you can put in here that are not on lifts but everything else is on lifts
and you could see that these cars are mostly antique cars and they're quite valuable
thank you for taking this tour of this tropical modern residence here in boca we look forward to
having you join us for more homes in the near future welcome to the luxury home show we're
in fort lauderdale today and we're going to be checking out this incredible mansion behind me
that was built in 2022 by prestige construction now if you're interested in south florida real
estate you may have seen some coverage of this home previously online but today we're actually
going to do a detailed walkthrough and we're starting right off on the exterior
