The Village at Alys Beach

Architect Demetri Porphyrios discusses his vision for the Village at Alys Beach:

The towns we love most mix buildings of different uses: as for example, residential, commercial, retail, leisure and special community uses. The Town of Alys Beach—master-planned by Duany Plater-Zyberk—has been designed with exactly these very principles of the traditional/human city in mind. That is why you want to live in Alys Beach. That is why we are designing the Village at Alys Beach for you.

Like the Mediterranean villages of my own country, Alys Beach brought back memories of the azure of the sea, the blue of the sky and the carefree time of childhood.

Like most Mediterranean fishing villages, the layout of the Village at Alys Beach is simple and rational. Small, narrow buildings are oriented north–south and are set at right angles to the waterfront so that both sunshine and the sea breeze reach all the houses. The narrow blocks ensure maximum cross-ventilation, while the surrounding small pedestrian streets give intimacy and human scale to the neighborhood.

The Village at Alys Beach features a central piazza (square) flanked on either side by narrow fingerlike buildings amidst which are woven two smaller piazzeti. This central square marks the southwest termination of Somerset Avenue and, together with the neighborhood as a whole, is elevated by four feet from the Sea Garden Street, thus affording ample parking space for everybody living here. A fine-dining restaurant is the main feature building of the central square, while few shops are situated at the interface with Sea Garden Street. The main space, rising above the dunes, affords stunning views of the ocean and of the beautiful sunset. Buildings, pedestrian streets, and squares are all interwoven in a way that balances the private and public aspects of life. Lesser models of town-building come and go, their ideas in vogue for a time, then falling from favor. But the traditional human town has had staying power. Its most successful places have been those with a physical framework—a structure and sequence of streets, squares, parks, waterfronts, and gardens—that enables life to continue to prosper amidst beautiful surroundings.

Towns are about people, and the intent of the Village at Alys Beach is to create lasting places: human scale, robust and beautiful buildings, variety and choice, a sense of place and belonging, the chance of delight and surprise—all these are seen as drivers for design. The architecture also reflects an underlying humanist philosophy. Buildings are of a scale that the human eye can find pleasing. They are designed in an additive manner so that the whole composition may exhibit a sense of the passage of time. Buildings are all painted in white or off-white with dashes of green, blue, burnt red, azure, etc. for the windows, external doors, timber or metal railings, and the fabric of the tents, the latter being retractable so that they mark the time of day. The interweaving of nature in the form of climbers, flowers, or trees and the rejection of large-scale landscaping schemes is a recurrent motif. The materials chosen—plaster, stone, and timber—are natural, sustainable, robust materials that are delightful to live with and that age gracefully. The refusal to adopt ephemeral stylistic fashions but instead cultivate a certain classico-vernacular sobriety gives a distinct natural character to the Village at Alys Beach. Ultimately, lightness, luminosity, and a sense of peace with oneself are visible features of the architecture.

Learn more about the Village at Alys Beach through the Village at Alys Beach Video and the Alys Beach Video.

Learn about Alys Beach Amenities

Architect Demetri Porphyrios discusses his vision for the Village at Alys Beach:

The towns we love most mix buildings of different uses: as for example, residential, commercial, retail, leisure and special community uses. The Town of Alys Beach—master-planned by Duany Plater-Zyberk—has been designed with exactly these very principles of the traditional/human city in mind. That is why you want to live in Alys Beach. That is why we are designing the Village at Alys Beach for you.

Like the Mediterranean villages of my own country, Alys Beach brought back memories of the azure of the sea, the blue of the sky and the carefree time of childhood.

Like most Mediterranean fishing villages, the layout of the Village at Alys Beach is simple and rational. Small, narrow buildings are oriented north–south and are set at right angles to the waterfront so that both sunshine and the sea breeze reach all the houses. The narrow blocks ensure maximum cross-ventilation, while the surrounding small pedestrian streets give intimacy and human scale to the neighborhood.

The Village at Alys Beach features a central piazza (square) flanked on either side by narrow fingerlike buildings amidst which are woven two smaller piazzeti. This central square marks the southwest termination of Somerset Avenue and, together with the neighborhood as a whole, is elevated by four feet from the Sea Garden Street, thus affording ample parking space for everybody living here. A fine-dining restaurant is the main feature building of the central square, while few shops are situated at the interface with Sea Garden Street. The main space, rising above the dunes, affords stunning views of the ocean and of the beautiful sunset. Buildings, pedestrian streets, and squares are all interwoven in a way that balances the private and public aspects of life. Lesser models of town-building come and go, their ideas in vogue for a time, then falling from favor. But the traditional human town has had staying power. Its most successful places have been those with a physical framework—a structure and sequence of streets, squares, parks, waterfronts, and gardens—that enables life to continue to prosper amidst beautiful surroundings.

Towns are about people, and the intent of the Village at Alys Beach is to create lasting places: human scale, robust and beautiful buildings, variety and choice, a sense of place and belonging, the chance of delight and surprise—all these are seen as drivers for design. The architecture also reflects an underlying humanist philosophy. Buildings are of a scale that the human eye can find pleasing. They are designed in an additive manner so that the whole composition may exhibit a sense of the passage of time. Buildings are all painted in white or off-white with dashes of green, blue, burnt red, azure, etc. for the windows, external doors, timber or metal railings, and the fabric of the tents, the latter being retractable so that they mark the time of day. The interweaving of nature in the form of climbers, flowers, or trees and the rejection of large-scale landscaping schemes is a recurrent motif. The materials chosen—plaster, stone, and timber—are natural, sustainable, robust materials that are delightful to live with and that age gracefully. The refusal to adopt ephemeral stylistic fashions but instead cultivate a certain classico-vernacular sobriety gives a distinct natural character to the Village at Alys Beach. Ultimately, lightness, luminosity, and a sense of peace with oneself are visible features of the architecture.

Learn more about the Village at Alys Beach through the Village at Alys Beach Video and the Alys Beach Video.

Learn about Alys Beach Amenities