Project Statement

The Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando, Florida was for decades a golfing destination with its Jack Nicklaus designed courses and private villas. With the explosion of Disney, Universal Studios and related resorts, the opportunity arose to reinvent the resort into a family destination called “Evermore” as an alternative to expected park lodging. Unlike typical vacation rentals, Evermore provides a hybrid experience combining comforts of private vacation homes with the best of resort vacationing. Bordering Walt Disney World, guests can take advantage of proximity to all major attractions. Unique to Evermore, however, is a new eight-acre fresh-water lagoon surrounded by beaches as the centerpiece of a new resort “town” anchored at the north by a Conrad hotel, with five-story flats, villas, and homes flanking the east and west. Our task was to design the South Beach entertainment and food venues that link the new resort and lagoon to golf. The challenge was to avoid theming prevalent in the parks and create a tropical, yet modernist character found in south Florida and the Caribbean where beauty and uniqueness are discovered in the expression of authentic materials and methods, not a specific style or period. One of our four projects, The Boathouse, serves as a destination, launching point, and visual focal point for the lagoon...and Evermore.

While the master plan called for flattening the site, we championed working with the existing hill/dune and beautiful trees between new lagoon and golf, essentially creating a buffer that the Boathouse would be carved into while allowing a promenade path up and over to reveal the course and shield beach noise. Navigating the change in grade, the two-story building is retained along the south side with support spaces and retail on the lower level tucked into the grade and opening to a covered pier... and functioning like a classic boathouse.

To celebrate the arrival sequence, the upper entry foyer and main hall are split into two separate glass volumes under one roof, connected by an outdoor covered bridge. A monumental stair flows down between buildings and below this bridge to the lower water taxi pier along the waterfront, beach retail and rentals, and small executive meeting room facing the slip housing a 1956 restored Chris-Craft Capri boat used for special occasions on the wedding lawn. This dogtrot opening creates a memorable wedding stair, and a key visual connection from golf to resort.

The large event hall and main entry foyer on the upper level are lifted to take advantage of golf, wedding lawn, beaches, and lagoon views. A modern cupola above floods the glass foyer with daylight cascading across a wood sculpture that hints of repeating oars. Across the bridge, solid wood doors build anticipation for the main hall’s chapel-like visual reveal of bowed glulam trusses that reflect the nautical shape of a hanging boat hull. The roof structure is “veiled” with cypress planks that react to the trusses. Contrasting a rigid roof, the curved wood veil creates a striking silhouette at night, and an Evermore focal point. The Boathouse has become a unique wedding destination, with leaving by classic boat a key differentiator for Evermore.