A private residence on Phillippi Creek completed this year won a 2016 Honor Award for Halflants + Pichette Studio for Modern Architecture from the Tampa Bay chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Set on a large irregular lot, the one-story modern home was built for a New Jersey couple retiring to Sarasota. “It’s on a high slope from Phillippi Creek; it’s not in a flood plain, and I enjoyed the fact that the house is set on grade,” says architect Michael Halflants. But “the difficulty with a project on the water is you don’t have privacy.” The architects solved that issue by laying out the living room wing, bedroom wing and detached garage to create a courtyard around the pool. “You get both privacy and a view towards the water,” he says.

Interestingly, the office and guest room are reached by an exterior shaded gallery adjacent to the courtyard. “I really like that you have a portion of the circulation that is outside,” says Halflants. One advantage of having an outside office, he says with a laugh, “it’s not so close to the fridge.”