Modest—by any stretch of its definition—seems an unusual word to describe a 20,000-square-foot South Beach villa, but Casa Bahia, which translates to “house on the bay,” takes a discreet back seat to its natural surroundings. It skims above the shoreline in subdued raw materials that allow the lush landscape of Miami’s Coconut Grove to visually take center stage.
“There is beauty in simplicity; luxury in restraint,” says Colombian-Ecuadorian filmmaker-turned-designer Alejandro Landes of the concrete and glass-walled villa, his first foray into architecture. Though not an architect by profession, Landes developed an affinity for the field through his studies at Brown University and through his mother, Catalina Echavarria, an established designer who worked alongside Landes on the project and incorporated tropical materials like salvaged teak wood, bamboo, rattan, and handmade linen into the villa’s interior palette.
Landes and local architect Bernard Zyscovich conceptualized the initial footprint of the home, which occupies a 0.94-acre lot in the gated Camp Biscayne community. The three-story design was largely dictated by Miami’s strict hurricane construction codes and FEMA’s national ordinance that requires waterfront property to be raised to avoid flooding. Inspired by bold, modernist gestures, the house was constructed using what Landes calls pure and “honest” materials that will evolve over time, including ashy concrete, porous wood and stone, and lime-based paint. Many of the home’s elements, such as its concrete frames and columns, were left exposed, so it was paramount they be well-constructed from the outset. The monumental wood trellis that cloaks the front façade was repurposed from reclaimed pilings in South Florida that may have been underwater for dozens of years. “I wanted to create something that felt as though it had been there for a long time, but also spoke to modernity,” says Landes, who selected the materials for their structural and durable, rather than decorative, qualities.
The house was designed as an indoor/outdoor playground with plenty of pockets that take advantage of the peninsular site’s panoramic views and crosswind ventilation. Landes embraced the raised ground floor—which was primarily designed to comply with code—as a vast, shaded courtyard for lounging. Shallow reflecting pools sit beneath a concrete plinth that wraps around the house, and a white, floating staircase composed of shell-reef slabs gently slopes up to the double-height main living space. The elevated plane serves as a deck for the floors above, which contain the home’s private spaces and bedrooms. Many of the rooms are fitted with floor-to-ceiling double-paned and hurricane-proof glass that open up completely to the Biscayne Bay breeze. "I wanted to frame the house as a sequential experience, from a pond that reflects the surroundings and sky, to the hanging concrete staircase that lightly hangs as though it were glass,” says Landes. “Taking something heavy and making it seem like it floats adds a new fragility to it.”
The seven-bedroom oasis is fitted with luxurious features such as a 73-foot-long infinity lap pool, steam room, four kitchens, a 12-person elevator, a climate-controlled wine cellar, and an eight-car garage. As a nod to his primary occupation, Landes built a theater room in the neighboring guesthouse. “On-site, multiple sources of expertise come into play—from the structural engineer who is in an office an hour away to the pourer of the concrete, who has done so for 20 years,” says Landes. “It’s a multiplicity of intelligences—a very heterogenous environment, and it’s imperative to listen to each one. Bringing a team together to understand how to design and build a house as peculiar as this one is a collaborative art form. It’s very much like a film.”
Tour the home in a film directed by Alejandro Landes.
Project Casa Bahia
Location Coconut Grove, Miami
Designer Alejandro Landes, Miami
Architect of Record Jerry Gavcovich, Miami
Builder Shorecrest Construction, Miami
Landscape Designer Raymond Jungles, Miami
Schematic Designer Zyscovich Architects, Miami
Interior Designer Catalina Echavarria, Miami
Size 20,000 square feet
Site 0.94 acre
Price $50 million
