Landscape Architect Articles

Fashion Forward06-10-16 | Feature

Fashion Forward

Wanting an outdoor living area that will still look fashionable in 2020 when the owners of this residence in Sarasota, Fla., plan to put it up for sale, they hired Robert Davie and Associates to create an ultra-modern design encompassing a pool with spa, an elegant screened-in enclosure, outdoor kitchen, fire feature, stylish lighting and more. The landscape company installed the kitchen, lighting and landscaping including these Trachycarpus fortunei or Chinese windmill palm trees. Water Designs of Sarasota built the pool, the spa and the fire feature with its three sheer descents. Bishops Aluminum constructed the enclosure, which is known in the region as a pool cage, from aluminum posts and beams, and mesh screening. Pool cages are very popular in the area because they help limit sun exposure, and keep out insects as well as leaves, needles and other debris.

A cantilevered canvas awning was installed in the corner of the enclosure where the afternoon sun hits. The heavy steel overhang was bolted to two posts set in 3' x 3' x 4' concrete footers. Silver travertine from Harmony Stone in Tampa was used as pavers, veneer, caps and coping.

LED tape lighting set in aluminum channels and covered with translucent polycarbonate material provide direct and indirect lighting for the seating area. One Super Bright transformer powers the two zones that are on separate dimmers. (More info on tape lighting products is available through the product search engine at landscapearchitect.com.)

After studying ornamental horticulture at the University of Florida, Robert Davie moved south to Palm Beach to begin his career. A contractor friend asked him to landscape some homes in Sarasota on the Gulf side of the state. So impressed by his work, the friend suggested that Davie move there and go into business.

Still open after four decades, Robert Davie and Associates currently has a downsized roster of four; adding temporary workers as needed. They specialize in the design and implementation of complete outdoor living spaces.

"This includes site analysis to identify valuable materials before construction begins," states Davie. "We basically bring all the elements together for a cohesive appearance, making everything look like it belongs there instead of added on."

For a recent project, homeowners with an outdated pool, spa and outdoor kitchen wanted to upgrade and expand their outdoor living space. And they had a special request – that their backyard still look "contemporary and clean" in 2020 when they plan to sell it.

"The existing pool cage (a screened enclosure) had to be removed and the footprint expanded out in three different directions," Davie says. "The customers wanted places for entertaining, relaxing and socializing."

Besides the new pool, pool enclosure, spa and outdoor kitchen, the plans called for a seating area under an existing lanai, a decorative water and fire feature, a landscape makeover and LED lighting. There are many refined touches that help create an avant-garde look. A stylish, steel and canvas, cantilevered awning offers shade to a seating area in the corner of the pool cage where the afternoon sun hits. It has 2 zones of lighting, one for ambient lighting and another for direct lighting under the awning, The unconventional fixtures are made of LED tape lighting set in aluminum tracks and covered with translucent polycarbonate material. Some of the tracks are known as "jewelry case," which create indirect lighting as they shine up into the awning.

All of the transformers are hidden in the bar. The bar top and countertop are Black Galaxy granite. A 3'-tall backsplash was made from two bands of the same material with a decorative ribbon of granite tiles and stainless steel tiles between them. These tiles are lined with Schluter metal trim, which is installed before tiles are set, protects and hides their unglazed edges, and provides an attractive transition between surfaces. LED tape lighting under the bar top and countertop illuminate the area. Appliances include a 36" grill.

Unsightly round stucco columns were spruced up by Designs by Rex with a board on board look using AZEK PVC decking material that was then trimmed with strips of brushed stainless steel. Collars were built around the top of each column and LED tape lighting was installed within them.

In fact, LED tape lighting was used throughout the outdoor living area, installed in subtle locations.

"Everybody has been putting lights on the ceilings for one hundred and some years so we decided to go with indirect mood lighting," states Davie.

The custom solution to the unattractive stucco columns holding up the lanai comprised a board on board look using AZEK PVC decking material trimmed with pieces of brushed stainless steel. The same material was used to add panache to walls and panels, and build a distinctive credenza that Davie calls, "a very custom piece, truly a work of a craftsman." That craftsman, Rex Sliker, used a heat gun to wrap the decking material around the 15-foot-long piece.

Black granite was the material of choice for the top of the credenza, as well as the bar top, countertops and back splash.

Landscape materials included miniature palms in the pool deck, Livistona nitida palms to provide a contrast in texture, and lots of ground orchids for color. Outside the pool cage are big Phoenix palms to create large focal points for primary views and block other homes, Cataract arum palms to create understory plantings for the larger trees and provide more privacy, Ixora for color, and exotic Copernicia palms to help integrate the scale of the cage into the landscape.

A heat gun was used to wrap PVC decking material around the credenza in this seating area. Inside this custom furniture piece are shelves for storage, as well as the gas valves and the controls for all the lighting including the LED tape lighting underneath its granite countertop.

A 4.3W LED bullet lights this Rhapis excelsa, or lady palm tree, surrounded by ferns.

For lighting the plants, Davie worked with Luis Couttolenc at a local LED manufacturer in Tampa.

"We used the best LED spot and pathway lights available, with surge protected stainless steel transformers," Davie says. "We uplit most of the palms outside the cage and utilized pathway fixtures inside the cage planters."

The outside contractors were Water Designs of Sarasota for the water and fire features, Bishops Aluminum for the pool cage, Designs by Rex for the custom columns, wall facades and furniture, a plumbing company, roofing company, irrigation company and electrician.

Heavy equipment used on the build included backhoes to remove the old pool and dig the space for the larger new pool, a loader to install the larger specimen palms, a crane and aerial lift to position the cantilevered awning in place.

All the planning, permitting, and construction took about 1 year. Davie reports that the challenges included dealing with the original granite fabricators.

"We sent them the specs, the CADs, the measurements, the radiuses – there was no way to put one more measurement on the plans and yet they chopped off the corner at an odd angle," he says. "They would not come back unless we paid them for a new bar top."

Another company, Distinctive Surfaces, helped them get it fixed. Other challenges were conforming to a budget, which came in at a little over $300,000, and designing and building an outdoor living area that will still be contemporary and trending six years into the future. The results are quite striking and sophisticated, and set to stand the fashion test of time.

As seen in LC/DBM magazine, June 2016.