S. Marc Thee
A Simple Plan Realized in the Designer's
South Beach Pied-a'-Terre

Text by Michael Frank/Photography by Kim Sargent

IT IS SOMETIMES A RELIEF TO learn that, in a world full of intricate interior design projects, every now and then one comes along that can reasonably be characterized as simple. Simple is decidedly not simplistic. Simple can, however, be simplifying. It's elegant, iconoclastic and surprisingly freeing for designer and client alike. This is especially true when designer and client are one and the same, as they were in a pied-~terre that S. Marc Thee recently completed for himself in Miami's South Beach.

As co-CEO of Marc-Michaels Interior Design, a firm that employs 80 people and has offices in three Florida cities, Thee spends a lot of time conceiving residencesmany of them second onesfor clients seeking to escape or retire from busy urban lives into Florida's famously balmy air and sparkling light. "The spirit of playfulness here can be very exciting," he says. "People are willing to go out on a limb. I've actually seen clients laugh upon realizing they can finally let go of a set of family china or a painting, even a quite valuable one, they've grown tired of. It's disinhibiting to hear that it's okay to shed your possessions. Second homes are all about giving yourself, or your client, permission to be lighthearted."

And when it's yourself and your client? "There's just one word Joy." Thee's situation was this. In Winter Park, his primary home, he'd surrounded himself with objects that constituted his "immediate circle of familiarity, things that represent who I am and where I've been~' (see Architectural Digest, September 2001). When he decided, for reasons both professional and recreational, to buy a condominium in Miami Beach, he knew at once that he'd have the opportunity to "kick off my shoes and clear my mindand my space."

The condominium Thee chose was in an award-winning high-rise. Ideally sited on Ocean Drive, within walking distance of the water, the park and Lincoln Road South Beach epicenters allthe building seemed tailormade for weekend living. The unit that he chose, on the 10th floor, had an open oceanview, abundant light ~nd cooling breezes. Anybody else would have been happy just to move into the two-bedroom apartment, add some furniture and call it a day.

Not Thee. Since weekend living was, for him, about simple living, he chose to rethink and streamline the apartment's floor plan. This was where his simplifying impulse was at its strongest. The unit, which contained two bedrooms and two baths in 1,200 square feet, had clearly been designed with a different use in mind. Since Thee expected to be there alone, or with guests who'd be staying for no more than a night or two at a time, he couldn't see the point of giving space to a guest room or,a what's more, closing off the cean view from the master bedroom. His solution? Gut the apartment so that it became what is, essentially, one large open room.

From his master bedroom, Thee can now wake up with e the sunrise. When guests do stay over, a daybed metamorphoses into a queen-size bed and a hidden paneled wall slides out from a bookcase to ensure privacy. "I think of the place as a luxury suite in an amazing hotel," says Thee. Thee's simplifying agenda extended to all aspects of the design. He avoided patterns, because "after looking at patterns all day long, I welcome the opportunity to rest my eyes when I'm here." He left the original saturnia floors patching the areas where the eliminated walls left gaps. The marble bath was as Graves specified; Thee added mosaic and wood cabinetry.

In fact, he introduced wood in various places: in mahogany doors, in the sliding paneled wall that can close off the master sleeping area and in the kitchen, whose grid-style paneling gives the room a jewel-box glow.

Since the windows had what he calls a "pleasant haphazardness"-some are long and linear; others are sliding doors; another still is round -he chose to cover them all in the same Ichampagne silk sheer. In several instances he removed doors and replaced them with interlined mohair draperies. "There are fewer doors to maneuver around," he points out, "and you end up with a quiet cocoon."

Versatility is also key in an apartment of such compactness. Thee's upholstered banquette wall allowed him to sidestep a dedicated dining area and create instead a place to eat, work and seat guests. The overscale ottoman supplies additional seating or serves as a table; the tea table shifts around as needed.

Throughout the pied-~terre there is a subtle Neoclassical inflection. In dining chairs and a floor lamp, in a chest of drawers a:qd the headboard, st~ong lines, reminiscent of Bieaermeier, lend weight to the soothing textiles, the simple floors, the suffusion of sea air and sunlight. Why Neoclassical? 'As with all simplicity, now and then you want a little complication," acknowledges S. Marc Thee. "And besides, it's my favorite kind of furniture, so why not?"