| Appointment | 2021 |
| Type | Commission |
| Client | Private Owner |
| Size | 4,320 SF |
| Location | St. Petersburg, Florida |
| Status | Built |
| Principal | Everald Colas, AIA, NOMA José Miranda, AIA |
| Project Lead | Katice Helinski, AIA |
| Designer(s) | Fhenny Gracia Clay Martin |
| Builder | Bright Bay Builders, Inc |
| Collaborator(s) | Booth Design Group LAAN Group Thornton Tomasetti, Inc. |
The W House is a 4,500 SF contemporary courtyard residence situated in St. Petersburg, Florida, conceived as a sanctuary for family life and a climate-responsive model for coastal living. Nestled within an urban residential fabric of St Pete’s Old Northeast neighborhood, the project reinterprets the vernacular language of the gabled roof and perimeter garden wall into a quiet yet expressive architectural composition that prioritizes privacy, sustainability, and a deep connection to place.
The home’s plan is organized around a central courtyard that orchestrates views, movement, and microclimate. Living spaces are arranged in an L-shape around the courtyard, opening onto a shaded patio, pool, and garden. This inward-facing orientation shields the home from street noise while enabling natural cross-ventilation, passive cooling, and a seamless indoor-outdoor lifestyle suited to Florida’s subtropical environment.
From the street, the architecture presents a composed and minimal elevation—its gable rooflines and white stucco volumes evoking traditional Floridian forms while translating them into contemporary geometry. From above, the plan reads as a series of interlocking roofs and walls, each contributing to a sense of protection, rhythm, and scale. Solar panels sit seamlessly atop sine wave metal roofs, integrating resilience into the architectural language. This commitment to self-sufficiency is further reinforced by a whole-house generator, a water filtration and softening system, ensuring comfort and continuity in the face of Florida’s climate.
2026 AIA Florida Design and Honor Awards | Award of Excellence Interiors – Merit Award
Interior spaces are tailored to everyday use and familial intimacy. The double-height living room anchors the home with a faceted ceiling that gathers light from multiple orientations. The kitchen, anchored with custom cabinetry, terrazzo counters, and muted tones, reflects a palette of material quietness and tactile warmth. Every room is finely attuned to its purpose—whether the dark, immersive mudroom; the sky-lit primary bath with clay tile and terrazzo floors; the light filled stairwell framed by an angular window; or the playful children’s bedrooms linked by a shared loft. Interior finishes throughout the home nod to the understated elegance of midcentury Florida, composing a material palette that harmonizes with the owner’s evolving collection of vintage pieces.
The design leans into elemental materials—buff brick, white stucco, terrazzo, wood—and uses them with precision and care. The exterior combines smooth and textured stucco with hand-laid buff brickwork, which reappears throughout the project in varied coursing patterns—from perforated brick screens at the stair to monolithic walls and built-in planters. The buff brick evokes the material memory of the neighborhood, echoing the warm, timeworn facades of historic homes that still anchor the area’s character. A cylindrical outdoor shower volume, wrapped in stucco and partially enclosed by curved brickwork, introduces a sculptural moment in the garden while paying homage to cisterns and regional water strategies.
Situated across from the botanical gardens, landscape design weaves through and around the architecture, reinforcing the home’s connection to its St. Pete context. Native and adaptive planting, stone pathways, operable windows, and framed vistas create moments of pause and procession, turning the daily rituals of entry, bathing, and gathering into experiences of reflection.
