When a house is located in the presence of magnificent natural surroundings — such as on Kiawah Island — the outdoor living experience becomes just as important as the interior.

“Indeed, we design homes in incredible landscapes because people crave interaction with nature,” says chief architect Marc Camens. “And, of course, everyone on Kiawah wants to live outside!”

The best way to embrace the indoor-outdoor lifestyle — especially in climates that can be hot or humid during extended parts of the year — is to blur the edges between the two. The better an architect blurs the edge, the better people feel and the better energy flows.

The Beauty of the Outdoor Living Room

At Camens Architectural Group, nearly 100% of the 100-plus homes we have designed has some extension to the outside in the form of a phenomenal outdoor living room (or two! or three!). And it’s important for this type of space to follow the architecture and design cues of the home for a seamless connection from inside to outside.

For example, in the Organic Desert Craftsmen property, the connection is so seamless between the main living area and the deck that you may not even notice it! A wall of glass in the living room opens directly to the expansive outside lounge for a truly uninterrupted flow.

“We also design a lot of screened porches and open porches,” says Camens. “But, as you can see in the Great Camp Meets Island Living property, screened porches are especially nice to keep the bugs away — especially for homes not directly on the ocean that can benefit from the sea breeze.”

Often equipped with a television, fireplace, a satellite kitchen, grill, and more, these outdoor living spaces provide a comfortable, relaxed way to take in nature while being shielded from the elements. Just like the interior of the home, Camens wraps the outdoor design around how the homeowners live and want to enjoy their space.

Pool Power

For Camens, pools are an integral part of architectural design — and outdoor living design — just as much as a home’s four walls. The power of a pool goes way beyond it being a square, recreational feature.

Because water is so nurturing, restorative, and even energizing, pools can provide a spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical experience and serve many purposes in a home, from inviting in recreation and swimming to creating Zen spaces of meditation and calm. 

Camens often organizes and orientates a home’s floor plan to encompass the pool as an outward focal point. Sometimes the pool even takes on organic, curved shapes to flow with the outdoor living areas and the landscape around it.

In the Outdoor Resort Living property, the pool serves as an extension of the home and the three levels of outside decks while becoming a transitional point between the home and the natural elements beyond, including the ocean, the horizon line, and the sky.

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We invite you to peruse more examples of outdoor living in our portfolio of custom homes, which have all been designed to thoughtfully integrate their surroundings in multiple ways. Let’s chat about your homebuilding dreams and how we can personalize exterior and interior spaces that are perfectly suited to you.­­