In Conversation with Studio SC

Studio SC is an internationally published, award-winning architecture and interior design studio based in New York City. We sat down with founding partners to discuss the design vision behind 9017 Carlyle Avenue.

The brief was deceptively simple: a five-bedroom family home on a generous corner lot in Surfside. But simplicity of program is often an invitation to architectural ambition. With no programmatic constraints to solve, we were free to focus on what matters most, the experience of space.

The design began with a courtyard. By organizing the home around a central outdoor room, we created a private world within the larger neighborhood. Every major living space opens onto this court, which functions as the heart of the house, visible from everywhere, accessible from anywhere.

The architecture should feel inevitable, as if the house could only exist on this specific site.

The facade is an exercise in controlled transparency. Deep reveals and projecting concrete frames create a rhythm of light and shadow that changes throughout the day. At night, the home glows from within, its interior life visible through carefully framed apertures.

We drew inspiration from mid-century modernism’s honesty of material, exposed concrete, natural wood, unadorned glass, but tempered it with a warmth that feels appropriate to Surfside’s relaxed coastal character. The architecture should feel inevitable, as if the house could only exist on this specific site.

The collaboration with Urban Blue Group has been exceptional. Their commitment to quality construction means our design intentions are realized faithfully, from the precision of the concrete pours to the alignment of every floor tile. That level of craft is increasingly rare in residential construction.