Miromar
Lakes Redefines
Southwest Florida Architecture
Day
or night, residents and guests who enter Miromar Lakes Beach & Golf
Club are immediately treated to a spectacular sight – a classically
inspired fountain, 90 feet in diameter. Crowning the fountain and surrounded
by sprays of water are the four Horai, goddesses of the seasons.
“When I began planning
what was to become Miromar Lakes, I gave our architect the task of creating
an entry that evoked a sense of formality – one that says to visitors,
‘you are entering a very special place,’” said Margaret
Miller, president and CEO of Miromar Development and the visionary behind
the community’s unique architectural design.
According to David Humphrey,
president of Humphrey Rosal Architects, Miromar Lakes’ entry fountain
is but the first tableau in an architectural palette drawing inspiration
from the French Riviera to the Amalfi coast across the Mediterranean to
the Iberian Peninsula.
Humphrey has more than
20 years of architectural experience in Naples. He said, from an architectural
standpoint, Miromar Lakes is the most ambitious residential community
he has seen in Southwest Florida. “Miller came to us with a detailed,
overarching vision inspired by her observations from years of European
travel,” said Humphrey.“She clearly knew what she wanted for
her community, and it began with an entry that created high expectations
in the mind of the visitors.”
Like Miller, Humphrey and
his staff have based their designs on extensive research of published
literature as well as through European trips. The results are astounding.
Miromar Lakes’ entrance
boulevard, lined with brick pavers and royal palms, gracefully curves
around the entry fountain leading to an impressive two-story gatehouse.
According to Humphrey, the gatehouse is a more formal urban style of Italian
architecture featuring highly detailed stone friezes and cornices with
decorative brackets.
Just beyond, one sees for
the first time the relaxing waters of Lake Como, one of two lakes comprising
more than 700 acres, as the Miromar gates open to invite you to enter
this very special community. Once inside, this formal architecture yields
to a more relaxed French and Italian Riviera style tailored to suit each
individual building’s function and highlight the fun that is to
be found living at Miromar Lakes.
The centerpiece of the
community is the Miromar Beach Club on Lake Como, offering a 10,000 square
foot, zero-edge infinity pool over 210 feet long with an expansive sundeck,
and French Riviera-inspired private cabanas on more than two miles of
white sandy beach lined with coconut palm trees. The Beach Club includes
a state-of-the-art fitness center, luxurious locker rooms, European-style
spa, Har-Tru tennis courts, volleyball, basketball and children’s
playground. Nestled between the pool and the beach is the Blue Water Beach
Grill, offering relaxed open-air dining and elegant international cuisine
with stunning panoramic lake and beach views.
“The Beach Grill
has an Italian theme that is more whimsical, seaside and resort-like,”
said Humphrey. “There are wooden outriggers, cedar ceilings, timber
trusses and colorful tiles. We sought to make this visual playground meld
with the infinity-edge pool and lake view beyond.We refer to it as Italian
architecture with a Southwest Florida execution.”
Humphrey said that one
of the primary considerations in designing the amenities at Miromar Lakes
was achieving the proper scale. “So many clubhouses and buildings
that house amenities at communities
throughout Southwest Florida are oversized and residents can get lost
in them. Miller wanted amenities that brought people together and truly
functioned as comfortable gathering points for residents.”
He said his team based
the design concept on a human scale that saw the amenities as extensions
of the residents’ homes. Appropriately, he also encouraged them
to remember the advice of Vitruvius, author of the famous Ten Books
of Architecture, which is known as the first book ever published
on architecture.A Roman who lived in the first century BC, Vitruvius insisted
great buildings had three qualities: strength, purpose and the ability
to instill delight.
“This represents
the heart of the great architectural debate of function vs. form, “said
Humphrey. “We felt, along with Miller, that Miromar Lakes’
architecture must not only be beautiful, but it must be regularly used
and a source of delight for the residents.”
The recently opened Golf
Clubhouse is perhaps the best example of this human scale. It is modeled
after an Italian country villa. The most unique feature of the complex
is the impressive arrival courtyard
surrounded by the main Clubhouse, a cart stable and a bougainvillea-lined
pergola with bag drop. A covered veranda wraps around the dining room,
providing sweeping golf and lakefront views.
“The Golf Clubhouse
was designed to be an extension of people’s homes,” said Humphrey.
“Despite its square footage it is very intimate. We wanted residents
to be able to take their golfing friends back to the Club and feel as
comfortable as if they were inviting them back to their home.Yet, at the
same time, the Club can handle large parties and dinners.”
From the reaction of residents,
the design team has succeeded in the goal of creating popular gathering
places. Jacqueline Burton and her husband, Al, own a home in the Montelago
neighborhood located directly across the street from the Beach Club. The
Burtons love having the amenities at their doorstep. “I use the
pool and the fitness center all of the time,” said Jacqueline. “The
Beach Club pool is so beautiful, and it is such a great gathering place
for all of the people we have met at Miromar Lakes that I come over here
all the time.”
Likewise, Ken and Patty
Smrstik moved to Miromar with a plan to be snowbirds but soon decided
to become full-time residents. Patty spends much of her time at the Beach
Club pool.“We have a pool at home, but the Beach Club is such a
great gathering place that I frequently come over here,” said Patty.
It is not just the residents
who have fallen in love with Miromar Lakes. The building industry has
also lavished awards on Miromar Lakes. The community recently received
its third consecutive, prestigious Sand Dollar Award for Best Clubhouse
from the Collier Building Industry Association (CBIA). It is the latest
on a long list of awards Miromar Lakes has won. In 2004, the Lee Building
Industry Association (BIA) honored Miromar Lakes Beach & Golf Club
with six prestigious Pinnacle Awards, including Community of the Year
and Best Clubhouse, and CBIA bestowed similar honors on the community
in 2003 and 2004 with a Sand Dollar Award for Community of the Year, in
addition to the Best Clubhouse Award.
The rave reviews and awards
are testament to the attention to detail poured into Miromar Lakes. Nothing
is overlooked. For example, Miller feels too many developers consider
the sales center an architectural afterthought. Instead, the sales center
at Miromar Lakes is done in an Italian style, highlighted with darker
woods contrasted with white stucco walls, evoking the feeling of an elegant
Mediterranean home.
Perhaps the apotheosis
of detail is the bridge to Isola Bella, an exclusive estate neighborhood
of only 13 homes within Miromar Lakes. The 700 acres of freshwater aquamarine
lakes, after which the community is named, presented the opportunity to
carve an island neighborhood into the heart of Miromar Lakes.
“Isola Bella is one
of the most unique neighborhoods in Southwest Florida,” said Miller.
“The homes on this private island have boat docks, giving residents
direct water access to the lake and the waterfront Beach Club amenities.
But we also needed to connect the island to the mainland, and I envisioned
the bridge as an architectural statement.”
Drawing again on her Iberian
travel experiences, Miller was inspired by The Garden of the Palacio Nacional
in Queluz, Portugal designed by architect Jean-Baptiste Robillion and
the neoclassic form of the 16th century Poseidon Fountain. According to
Miller, elements of this
European design carefully complement the Mediterranean seaside ambiance
of the Isola Bella neighborhood and its white neoclassical bridge.
This elaborate architecture
plan would not be complete without an ambitious landscaping program to
accent it. “The landscaping follows an Italian theme as well,”
said Humphrey. “There are gardens and cypress trees planted within
the community that provide a sense of the Italian countryside.”
Amazingly, despite all
that is already in place at Miromar Lakes, Miller feels the best is yet
to come. The soon-to-be–unveiled Phase II of the Beach Clubhouse
will feature a spacious gourmet dining room, lakefront terraces, a private
dining room, a card room, a billiards room, a lounge with a wine room,
a theater, a library, a conference room and a business center.
“The new Beach Clubhouse
will be an extraordinary architectural statement,” said Miller.
“It will be an expansion of the existing style and quality found
at Miromar Lakes and it will provide even more amenities and conveniences
for our residents.”
Miller is proudest of the
fact that she and her team have not only met, but exceeded the expectations
of residents at Miromar Lakes.“When we hosted a Grand Opening party
for Phase I of the Beach Club, numerous residents came up to say that
they couldn’t believe that the finished product was even better
than the plans we had shown them. That gave me a tremendous sense of satisfaction,
especially knowing the caliber of people who live here,” said Miller.
Courtesy
of Miromar Lakes Beach & Golf Club
239 425-2340
Toll Free 877 809-9440
www.miromarlakes.com
Written by Brad Whalen
