Contemporary Architecture That Rethinks Florida's Coastal Identity
Studio KHORA pushes the boundaries of modern design for waterfront homes, reshaping Palm Beach and Boca Raton into a new architectural dialogue.
To speak of architecture in Palm Beach, one must now speak of rupture. Studio KHORA—recognized as one of the top Florida architects —has entered the dialogue not as a passive translator of past aesthetics but as an author of something wholly new. This is not nostalgia made concrete. It is a language of absence and presence, built for the epoche of our time: a climate of shifting oceans, technologies that render permanence unstable, and an American lifestyle that can no longer afford imported illusions. The firm's arrival signals a withdrawal from the ornamental and a turn toward the elemental. Here, design becomes a trace of what remains when tradition evaporates under the Floridian sun.
Walkthough Video: I House - 2633 Spanish River RD, Boca Raton - Studio KHORA
In this project, the home is not an object; it is a performance. In Boca Raton, where the iconic I House at 2633 Spanish River Road was brought into being—a top Boca Raton architects moment, awarded by the AIA—we see the philosophical inversion of classical tropes. Columns are not revived but referenced, spatially resisted, and then negated through alignment, proportion, and void. The I House was composed not to imitate, but to other classical design—allowing its clean contemporary lines to emerge through contrast. This technique is not homage, but critique: a spatial différance that allows contemporary identity to emerge from the very rejection of imported forms that never belonged to the landscape they occupy.
What Studio KHORA constructs, instead, is an architecture that speaks to the real: hurricanes, humidity, the ocean's edge. It is a text written in passive ventilation, in solar glass, in the dynamic voids that resist flooding. The Palm Beach architects of record are not just making homes—they are making time visible. In this, the home is a syntax. Windows do not just open; they interrogate. Rooflines do not just shelter; they punctuate. Facades do not represent but rather interrupt, like a stammer in an otherwise smooth narrative. Here, the sign does not mirror the thing. It exposes it.
For ten consecutive years, Studio KHORA has been named among the top 50 coastal architects in the U.S.—a recognition not merely of form, but of form as resistance. These structures are not objects for the eye but conditions for thought. And it is within this fracture, this refusal of the easy image, that the top Florida architects have created a new aesthetic for the American coastal home: one that listens not to what architecture once was, but what it might become.
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Globe and Mail
a day ago
- Globe and Mail
Contemporary Architecture That Rethinks Florida's Coastal Identity
"Studio KHORA's radical departure from nostalgic replicas embraces climate-conscious forms, challenging conventions by constructing meaning through spatial contrast, symbolic fragmentation, and coastal resilience." Studio KHORA pushes the boundaries of modern design for waterfront homes, reshaping Palm Beach and Boca Raton into a new architectural dialogue. To speak of architecture in Palm Beach, one must now speak of rupture. Studio KHORA—recognized as one of the top Florida architects —has entered the dialogue not as a passive translator of past aesthetics but as an author of something wholly new. This is not nostalgia made concrete. It is a language of absence and presence, built for the epoche of our time: a climate of shifting oceans, technologies that render permanence unstable, and an American lifestyle that can no longer afford imported illusions. The firm's arrival signals a withdrawal from the ornamental and a turn toward the elemental. Here, design becomes a trace of what remains when tradition evaporates under the Floridian sun. Walkthough Video: I House - 2633 Spanish River RD, Boca Raton - Studio KHORA In this project, the home is not an object; it is a performance. In Boca Raton, where the iconic I House at 2633 Spanish River Road was brought into being—a top Boca Raton architects moment, awarded by the AIA—we see the philosophical inversion of classical tropes. Columns are not revived but referenced, spatially resisted, and then negated through alignment, proportion, and void. The I House was composed not to imitate, but to other classical design—allowing its clean contemporary lines to emerge through contrast. This technique is not homage, but critique: a spatial différance that allows contemporary identity to emerge from the very rejection of imported forms that never belonged to the landscape they occupy. What Studio KHORA constructs, instead, is an architecture that speaks to the real: hurricanes, humidity, the ocean's edge. It is a text written in passive ventilation, in solar glass, in the dynamic voids that resist flooding. The Palm Beach architects of record are not just making homes—they are making time visible. In this, the home is a syntax. Windows do not just open; they interrogate. Rooflines do not just shelter; they punctuate. Facades do not represent but rather interrupt, like a stammer in an otherwise smooth narrative. Here, the sign does not mirror the thing. It exposes it. For ten consecutive years, Studio KHORA has been named among the top 50 coastal architects in the U.S.—a recognition not merely of form, but of form as resistance. These structures are not objects for the eye but conditions for thought. And it is within this fracture, this refusal of the easy image, that the top Florida architects have created a new aesthetic for the American coastal home: one that listens not to what architecture once was, but what it might become.
CBC
a day ago
- CBC
Passengers recall 'miracle' rescue after child and father fall overboard on Disney cruise
A trip aboard a Disney Dream cruise nearly turned into a nightmare this weekend after a child reportedly fell overboard and her dad jumped in after her. Both the child, reportedly age five, and her father were saved, according to multiple media reports and other passengers aboard the four-day cruise on a Disney Dream ship. Shannon Lindholm, a passenger on the ship, says she didn't see the fall, but she did watch the rescue happen. The ship was at sea, on its way from the Bahamas to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., when the girl fell in on Sunday, Lindholm told CBC News. "We heard the M.O.B. call on the intercom," Lindholm said, referring to code for "man overboard." "Then, we watched the rescue from the fourth floor. Disney did a wonderful job. It was fast and amazing," said Lindholm, 38, from Houston. Lindholm shared a photo of the rescue boat going into the water. She told CBC that within five minutes, the child and her dad were back on the cruise ship. "The man rescued was giving a thumbs-up sign as their small boat was approaching the cruise ship, and everyone cheered on the ship as they boarded back on," she said. "Miracle, for sure." statement to USA Today, a Disney spokesperson said the crew "swiftly rescued two guests from the water." "We commend our Crew Members for their exceptional skills and prompt actions, which ensured the safe return of both guests to the ship within minutes. We are committed to the safety and well-being of our guests, and this incident highlights the effectiveness of our safety protocols," the statement continued. Passengers describe swift rescue Janice Martin-Asque, another passenger on the ship, says she was on the third deck when she heard the announcement over the intercom around 11:30 a.m. Sunday. But she didn't know what "M.O.B." meant, she said, so she and her family went up to Deck 11 to grab some snacks. "That's when we saw a bunch of people crowded up over the railings," Martin-Asque, 42, of Kissimmee, Fla., told CBC News. "My daughter asked someone what had happened, and someone said a kid had fallen overboard and that the dad jumped in after her." Martin-Asque filmed the rescue, which she describes as "intense," "terrifying," and, "a miracle." The footage shows a yellow rescue boat drifting toward a figure barely above water, holding a child and bobbing in the choppy sea. When the boat reaches them, the rescuers lift the child into the boat, followed by the man. People can be heard cheering, clapping, yelling "Hip hip hooray!" and muttering, "Oh, my god." WATCH | How AI can speed up search and rescues at sea: How AI could speed up search and rescue missions at sea 1 year ago Duration 1:45 A company from the U.K. was in Dartmouth, N.S., on Wednesday showing its new technology that uses artificial intelligence to speed up search and rescue operations at sea. The company has had success with the cruise ship industry in the U.S. Preston Mulligan reports. In the "Disney Dream Cruise Ship Group" on Facebook, other passengers described the accident as occurring from the fourth deck of the ship. According to the Disney Dream's floorplan available on the Disney Cruise website, the fourth deck has a walking track that wraps around the ship. "A girl fell overboard from the fourth deck and her dad went in after her," wrote a passenger Sunday. "Thankfully the DCL rescue team was on it immediately and both were saved," he added. It's unclear how the child fell overboard. There are plexiglass barriers on the decks, according to multiple passenger posts and Disney cruise forums. On the Facebook page, some passengers described the terrified mother yelling from the deck, "She's five and she can't swim!" "It was incredible," Lindholm said of the rescue. Rare to fall overboard It's rare for passengers to fall overboard. According to a report by trade body Cruise Lines International Association, 212 people (both passengers and crew) fell overboard between 2009 and 2019, which they say represents just 0.00004 per cent of passengers and crew. Nearly half, or 48 per cent, were rescued, according to the report. And in every case where the cause could be determined "following a careful investigation, it was found to be the result of an intentional or reckless act." In 2019, an Indiana toddler fell to her death from the 11th storey of a cruise ship docked in Puerto Rico. The girl was travelling with her parents, two siblings and two sets of grandparents aboard the Freedom of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean Cruise. Her grandfather was eventually charged in her death. He was holding Chloe Wiegand when she slipped from his grasp and fell about 150 feet to her death from an open window. He said he didn't know the window was open when he lifted Chloe up to it.
CBC
a day ago
- CBC
Passenger recalls 'miracle' rescue after child and father fall overboard on Disney cruise
A trip aboard a Disney Dream cruise nearly turned into a nightmare this weekend after a child reportedly fell overboard and her dad jumped in after her. Both the child, reportedly age five, and her father were saved, according to multiple media reports and other passengers aboard the four-day cruise on a Disney Dream ship. Shannon Lindholm, a passenger on the ship, says she didn't see the fall, but she did watch the rescue happen. The ship was at sea, on its way from the Bahamas to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., when the girl fell in on Sunday, Lindholm told CBC News. "We heard the M.O.B. call on the intercom," Lindholm said, referring to code for "man overboard." "Then, we watched the rescue from the fourth floor. Disney did a wonderful job. It was fast and amazing," said Lindholm, 38, from Houston. Lindholm shared a photo of the rescue boat going into the water. She told CBC that within five minutes, the child and her dad were back on the cruise ship. "The man rescued was giving a thumbs-up sign as their small boat was approaching the cruise ship, and everyone cheered on the ship as they boarded back on," she said. "Miracle, for sure." CBC News has reached out to Disney Cruise Lines for confirmation, but they have yet to respond. In a statement to USA Today, a Disney spokesperson said the crew "swiftly rescued two guests from the water." "We commend our Crew Members for their exceptional skills and prompt actions, which ensured the safe return of both guests to the ship within minutes. We are committed to the safety and well-being of our guests, and this incident highlights the effectiveness of our safety protocols," the statement continued. Social media posts describe swift rescue In the "Disney Dream Cruise Ship Group" on Facebook, other passengers described the accident as occurring from the fourth deck of the ship. According to the Disney Dream's floorplan available on the Disney Cruise website, the fourth deck has a walking track that wraps around the ship. "A girl fell overboard from the fourth deck and her dad went in after her," wrote a passenger Sunday. "Thankfully the DCL rescue team was on it immediately and both were saved," he added. It's unclear how the child fell overboard. There are plexiglass barriers on the decks, according to multiple passenger posts and Disney cruise forums. On the Facebook page, some passengers described the terrified mother yelling from the deck, "She's five and she can't swim!" "It was incredible," Lindholm said of the rescue. WATCH | How AI can speed up search and rescues at sea: How AI could speed up search and rescue missions at sea 1 year ago Duration 1:45 Rare to fall overboard It's rare for passengers to fall overboard. According to a report by trade body Cruise Lines International Association, 212 people (both passengers and crew) fell overboard between 2009 and 2019, which they say represents just 0.00004 per cent of passengers and crew. Nearly half, or 48 per cent, were rescued, according to the report. And in every case where the cause could be determined "following a careful investigation, it was found to be the result of an intentional or reckless act." In 2019, an Indiana toddler fell to her death from the 11th storey of a cruise ship docked in Puerto Rico. The girl was travelling with her parents, two siblings and two sets of grandparents aboard the Freedom of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean Cruise. Her grandfather was eventually charged in her death. He was holding Chloe Wiegand when she slipped from his grasp and fell about 150 feet to her death from an open window. He said he didn't know the window was open when he lifted Chloe up to it.
