This classic Florida cottage is in the master-planned resort community of Seaside, Florida. Named Dream Catcher, the small cottage has two bedrooms and a sleeping loft in 1,035 ft2 (96.2 m2). It is topped by a Dutch gable roof, similar to a hip roof but with a small gable at the peak. Hip and Dutch gable roofs are popular in hurricane-prone areas of the coast as both keep the roof line low on all four sides, providing greater resistance to hurricane force winds than a gable roof does.
This small earth-sheltered house in Atlantic Beach, Florida is actually a duplex, two near-identical homes of 750 ft2 (69.7 m2) each. They were built in 1975 by architect William Morgan to use as vacation rentals. As he himself lived right next door, he did not want the new house to block his view of the ocean, and preferred to keep the landscape natural. Morgan’s solution was to bury the house in an existing sand dune. It is barely visible from the street above. From the ocean side it appears somewhat frog-like with two large rounded openings framing the twin patios. The mass of sand over and around the homes moderates the inside temperatures year-round so very little heating or cooling is needed.
