Pictured: DWYLA's David Young and HGTV's Beth Rucker filming in the master bedroom at Aquadisia.

A house with a name like Aquadisia is not to be underestimated. With water features surrounding the ground floor, to a glass-encased massage room overlooking a landscaped maze to a soaring, Japanese tea house-esque peaked wooden ceiling, the home proves to be nothing short of spectacular. Initially designed by Guy Peterson, the remodel came in the form of epic landscape architecture by DWYLA Principal David W. Young and a fresh new interior by David Lowe. “This project was in conjunction with an incredible client who had an incredible vision,” says Young. “She knew she wanted a labyrinth and she knew she wanted some massive water elements.”

Back in April of this year, HGTV announced that DWYLA and David Young won the Overall Winner for their annual Ultimate Outdoor Awards for 2016, with one of his projects winning the People's Pick in the category of Love at First Sight as well as the ultimate Overall Winner, while the Aquadisia residence was recognized in the final six in the Water Water Everywhere category. Young was one of only four from Florida in the competition and the only professional to have two designs showcased for voting. As such, the team from HGTV visited the Aquadisia property to feature Young’s work and produce a (forthcoming) video at the house; SRQ got a behind-the-scenes look at the filming process, following along as Young got into every detail of the house.

The Ultimate Outdoor Awards program was created to honor top design professionals across the country with only 35 finalists nominated among six categories, with HGTV staff and industry experts acting as a panel of judges alongside HGTV viewers. “We’re trying to find landscape architects and interior designers that are doing the best, most innovative work in the industry to honor what they are doing,” says Beth Rucker, HGTV’s managing editor of photo. “There’s so many beautiful and thoughtful things being done in landscape architecture and it’s sometimes overlooked. Sarasota and the Tampa Bay area have a great pool of talent.” Aquadisia dominated in the Water Water Everywhere category, with both built water features and the natural churning ocean surrounding the property. Located in the Sanderling Club in Siesta Key, the house welcomes guests with a motor court that seemingly floats below a reflecting pool, guarded by two massive marble Chinese Foo Dogs leading the way to a glass box, within which perfect pitch is attained. 

Peer inside and you’ll find a maze of glass and light, water and air, with a falling water wall beside a lower-level spa and an upper deck that features a private, floating master-bed spa, all looking out over the crystalline waters lapping at the beach’s edging rocks. Not to mention the slick interior, free of any apparent fixtures—lights are either hung or indented crystals, air conditioning ducts are narrow slits in the ceiling, while the beamed wooden roof above the second floor living space and master bed hides secret lighting buried within the slats and water for the free-standing tub falls gently from a spigot in the sky. “You can look at photos of the house and get the overall image of it,” says Krystyna Sznurkowski, senior principal and project manager at DWYLA, “but it isn’t until you are standing between the glass walls and see how the water comes right up to the house that you can feel the space drawing you out. It’s hard to capture that, even in the best photo.”

Pictured: DWYLA's David Young and HGTV's Beth Rucker filming in the master bedroom at Aquadisia.