Paradise Found
Miami Home and Decor | Winter Spring 2011
In the foyer foreground sits the “Tucker” chair covered in Sueded Buffalo Bull from Edelman Leather. One of interior designer Michael Wolk’s designs, this chair made its movie debut in “Batman Returns.” Nearby, a Morris Lapidus-inspired swiss cheese ceiling design shapes the dining area, right, where Wolk designed chairs manufactured by Brueton and covered in Larsen fabric. Here, floor-to-ceiling metallic-flecked sheers from Pollack electronically slide open to reveal breathtaking ocean views.
planted firmly in the sand of sunny isles beach, this residence designed by michael wolk, holds a matrix of splendid Surprises
“We had to sculpt around some strong givens. We also had to reinforce what God had created in the dynamic surroundings.”
A high-back sofa covered in Brentano fabric and Della Robbia club chairs circle a J. Batchelor mahogany cocktail table to form a social grouping in the living area. Nearby, a banquette custom designed in Larsen fabric circles a column to look out over the ocean.
When a home occupies three floors of the Trump Palace in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., and is nestled into dunes at the water’s edge with full panoramic views, creating interiors that raise the bar to such high standards could be daunting for a designer. With few walls and not a square edge in sight, the challenge could become surreal. Not so for interior designer Michael Wolk and his talented staff, who enthusiastically rolled up their sleeves and tackled the design of this 8,800-square-foot condominium belonging to the building’s developer, Gil Dezer. “I told Michael this is his opportunity to do something amazing,” Dezer says. “He had to design this as a drop-dead spot and I let him go crazy.”
The main living spaces were designed for entertaining including the bar area, where A. Rudin barstools covered in Ashbury Hides’ calf suede comfortably pull up to a bronze sateen glass countertop that cantilevers out from a rosewood base.
Initially, Wolk was designing what he calls the coolest bachelor pad on the East Coast, but when Dezer met Lorena, who is now his wife, the home became a celebration of their love with features including his-and-her bathrooms with spa-like amenities and glass bedroom walls that become frosted for privacy.
Drawing inspiration from the movie “The Matrix,” Wolk created stealth-like features, such as a glass bridge lined with LED lighting that leads to the master bedroom and is supported by a clever steel frame that becomes an architectural element crowning the foyer area below.
“The huge volumes definitely provided a challenge, as did the elliptical shape of the entire residence,” Wolk says. “But these elements also allowed me to create some beautiful features, like the egg-shaped powder room and the double helix staircase — which during a recent trip to Paris I realized was much like the staircase in Napoleon’s apartment.”
The main living spaces and the pool cabana with beach access were designed for entertaining. “It’s a huge entertaining space with the living area, bar, dining area and kitchen merging,” Wolk says.
In the master suite, club chairs wrapped in Moore & Giles’ Jakarta Crème leather and a Clovis desk chair from Holly Hunt fashioned in Knoll Textile’s Cuddle Cloth combine with the dark wood of the custom-designed furnishings and Brazilian cherry wood flooring to create a cocoon-like warmth.
THE DRESSING AREA CONTINUES THE CURVACEOUS THEME OF THE INTERIOR SCHEME THROUGHOUT WHILE OFFERING A PRELUDE TO THE BATHROOM SUITE CLAD WITH WALLS IN LIMESTONE AND A SHOWER FLOOR PAVED IN SMOOTH PEBBLES.
While the public spaces are serenely pale, the designer clad the master suite in deep-toned wood. “The master bedroom is the cathedral of the house,” he says. “And it also needed to be the most cocooning and warm of spaces.” As in every other room in the residence, Wolk designed much of the furniture in the master suite. “Michael is a true artist,” Dezer says. “He designed the bed to sit in the middle of the room and strategically angled it to appreciate the full 180-degree ocean views.”
It’s Wolk’s ability to visualize what most people can’t that impresses the developer. Dezer came into this project with a significant amount of trust in the designer, who had designed all of the lobby areas for the building. “He comes up with concepts that are difficult for others to grasp,” Dezer says. “I do this for a living and I was still asking him — about 500 times before all was said and done — if this was going to be a phenomenal apartment. And that’s exactly what it is.”
Brown Jordan Furnishings line the private pool deck replete with beach access just steps away – one of the elements that convinced Dezer that purchasing the bottom three floors rather than the penthouse was a clever alternative.
BY SAXON HENRY | PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAN FORER