Key Facts
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2003
Designed
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159 ac.
Project Size
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EBSCO
Client
Program
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899
Units
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187,000 sq.ft.
Retail Space
About Alys Beach
Like nearby Seaside and Rosemary Beach, Alys Beach is another model resort town where an explicitly urban experience lives in harmony with nature. The site offered DPZ the rare opportunity to celebrate the Gulf front to wetland transect that is so emblematic of the Florida Panhandle. Long views to the water from points inland are framed by narrow pedestrian passages filled with fountains, gardens, and outdoor seating. As do the other two communities, Alys announces its presence along County Road 30A emphatically— with bold gateway pavilions, cobble-stone slip roads, date palm allée, and a town center green.
Alys’ plan and character are based on the marriage of two unlikely sources: the patio/courtyard house and urban block typologies of Antigua, Guatemala and the white walls and roofs of Bermuda. Overseeing the strict code’s compliance and inspiring architectural excellence, Town Architects KVA have added a unique North African flavor to the Guatemala-Bermuda DNA blend. The resulting aesthetic has given Alys Beach an elegance and brand identity all its own. This distinctive look has clearly contributed to Alys’s per square foot real estate values, among the highest in Florida in the past decade.
Development Approach
- Tightly Regulated & Enforced: detailed urban and architectural codes + KVA as watchful town architect.
- Nature preserved: dunes respected + northern wetlands preserved + light imprint storm water management.
- Sustainability emphasized: high albedo white walls/ roofs + fortified construction + geothermal
- Civic as amenity: community buildings + public realm via iconic structures + spaces.
Defining Design Details
- Unique aesthetic: Antigua + Bermuda + a dash of Morocco = unexpected, memorable character.
- Color calming: use of white as intentional break from articulated and multi-hued 30A context.
- Nature enhanced: the terrain’s slight slope to the south accentuated by long, passageway vistas.
- Transect cues: subtle evolution of passageway paving, lighting, and plantings indicates beach or wetland direction.
- Transect cues: denser townhouses near beach vs larger residences at sparser, wetland edge.
Project Categories
Project Website
http://www.alysbeach.comMedia
A Vibrant Community Rises on Florida’s Panhandle
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Caliza Courts in Alys Beach
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Khoury-Vogt Designs Alys Beach Home with Bermudian and Moorish Influences
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