LIFE BEYOND FIRST CLASS
DESIGN & ARCHTIECTURE
LIVING LEGACY
IN THE KEYS
The Van der Vlugt Residence by STRANG reinterprets the Sarasota School of Architecture for the 21st century, pairing elevated resilience and material experimentation with solar performance to create an award-winning coastal benchmark.
REGINA RUSSO
PHOTOGRAPHY: RYAN LESTER, ARCHITECTURE SARASOTA
Along the shimmering coastline of the Upper Florida Keys, the Van der Vlugt Residence does more than occupy its site, it hovers above it, poised between land and sea with quiet authority. Designed by Miami-based STRANG, the home feels both elemental and forward-looking, a disciplined yet poetic response to Florida’s evolving climate realities. It is architecture with its sleeves rolled up, prepared for rising tides while remaining unapologetically beautiful.
Recognition has followed. The residence earned the AIA Florida Award of Excellence for New Work and the AIA Miami Award of Excellence in Residential Architecture, and was named a finalist at the World Architecture Festival. Yet the accolades feel less like celebration and more like affirmation of a necessary direction in coastal design.
Elevated ten feet above grade, the home anticipates sea level rise and storm surge without dramatics. Its long horizontal form appears to float, wrapped in rhythmic louvers that capture sunlight by day and cast cinematic shadows by afternoon. A 50-foot cantilever projects confidently over the landscape, partially engaging a natural berm below. The structure is both grounded and liberated, acknowledging the vulnerability of the Keys while asserting composure rather than retreat.
“We are immensely proud that the Van der Vlugt Residence has earned such significant recognition,” says Max Strang, Founder and Managing Partner of STRANG. “Being honored with multiple AIA awards, and named a World Architecture Festival Finalist, underscores the necessity of designing beautiful, yet resilient, structures that are deeply connected to Florida’s unique coastal environment.”
Inside, environmental intelligence becomes tactile. Floor-to-ceiling glazing invites cross-ventilation and dissolves the boundary between interior and horizon. Strategically placed louvers temper solar exposure, while photovoltaic systems quietly power the home, achieving 100 percent solar operation for 1,264 hours throughout the year and net-zero performance for 31 days. Sustainability here is not an accessory, it is embedded in the architecture’s DNA.
Material continuity strengthens the narrative. Board-formed concrete wraps the exterior and flows indoors, its rugged texture contrasting with smooth microcement and curved white millwork. A sculptural spiral staircase, sheathed in cool gray microcement, becomes a hinge point where curvature meets axis, echoing the sweep of the waterfront beyond. In the owner’s suite, metallic imprints of the concrete formwork turn structural memory into art.
The home’s cultural weight extends further. Selected as the pilot episode for Sarasota School: A Living Legacy, produced by Architecture Sarasota, the residence stands as a contemporary chapter in a century-old design conversation. It proves that environmental modernism is not nostalgia, but evolution.
In the Van der Vlugt Residence, STRANG’s philosophy of Environmental Modernism becomes deeply personal. This is not a fortress against nature, nor a fragile gesture toward it. It is a house that listens to wind, light, and tide, responding with clarity and resolve. Along Florida’s fragile coast, it feels less like a retreat and more like a statement about how we must build now.
Join our mailing list to receive curated updates, special features, and invitations to events that define the world of the discerning few.
Sign up today and never miss what’s next.