Regalia Tower

This 39-story building on the ocean presented two challenges – No. 1, each unit will have 10 foot ceilings and 6,000 square feet of uninterrupted indoor space and 1,000 square feet of terrace, and No. 2, sea turtles. Designed by Bernardo Fort-Brescia of Arquitectonica, the 39-story Regalia offers one condo unit a floor, with views in all four directions.

A master stroke: showers open onto a terrace, offering bathing en plein air, yet in complete privacy. The “living” room alone is almost 1,000 square feet. If you illuminate such super-large spaces equally, the effect is stark and boring. Every area has to talk in different ways, some declamatory, some whispers. But they still must speak the same language. One solution is to constantly refer to nature. During the day, a photometric cell measures the exact light density and temperature outside, and a processor duplicatesthat in the common spaces.

Even in the elevator a resident can sense what it is like outside. At night, wildlife regulations prohibit any bright lights on the building, which would confuse hatching sea turtles. The solution is a concealed system that will illuminate terrace floors, but fade toward the building. There are almost no reflections, and no little turtles are confused. Because the building has such a sinuous shape, the temptation was to emphasize that with twisting LED lights. But that was rejected: sea turtles.