The small 10,000 square foot property is located in a highly desirable urban neighborhood undergoing gentrification just south of downtown Sarasota. The new owners recognized the value in the mid-century modern home and appreciated how each room was connected visually with the site and adjacent garden spaces that put the natural environment on display. However, the property had been poorly maintained and the existing plants and hardscape were in a state of neglect and decline. The landscape exhibited little relation to the modernist architecture and even less cohesion to the surrounding neighborhood. Neither functioned as a desired extension of the architecture or highlighted the views from the extensive glass walls that are typical of modern architecture. 

The existing landscape was dominated by an over-scaled grove of royal palms set in loose shell on a sloping ground plane on one side and an unfinished block retaining wall that was abrupt to the public sidewalk on the other. The pool area was unrefined, lacking visual presence and privacy and consisted largely of neglected vegetation. Other conditions included a shell driveway with a steep incline that rutted after heavy rains and a confusing arrival sequence that lacked spatial clarity, leading first time visitors through the carport to the kitchen door. The impetus for change came when a typical trip to the airport resulted in a frantic call to a taxi service when the owner’s car become stuck in a heavily rutted portion of the drive created by a rainstorm the previous night.