Palm Beach · Miami · Naples · Sarasota

Two worlds.
One atelier.

We build homes that sit between the cinematic restraint of warm modern architecture and the timeless gravity of a Mediterranean estate. Choose your world — or commission a residence that lives between them.

Side 01
Warm Modern
Side 02
Mediterranean Estate

"Firmness. Commodity. Delight."

— Vitruvius, De Architectura, c. 15 B.C.
i. Side 01 — Warm Modern

A concrete idea
of warmth.

Board-formed walls. Slab fireplaces. The careful choreography of light through a hidden reveal. We build a modernism that feels engineered yet undeniably warm — restraint as the loudest gesture in the room.

Warm modern fireplace floating from a board-formed concrete wall, lit by a hidden LED reveal at golden hour
01A monolithic travertine hearth, floating
Monumental walnut pivot door set in a warm board-formed concrete facade at twilight, hidden LED reveal grazing the wall
02The arrival sequence
Floating walnut vanity beneath a single travertine slab with integrated trough sink, hidden LED reveal below
03Floating, never anchored
Warm modern integrated kitchen with monolithic travertine island and concealed walnut cabinetry against a warm concrete wall
04Kitchen as quiet architecture
Seamless indoor to outdoor flow with retracted glass walls and polished concrete floor extending to a travertine deck and linear pool
05Indoor and outdoor, indivisible
· Materials Library — Modern

Touch a surface.

Every modern home we build is a careful conversation between six materials. Select one to read why we use it, where it lives, and how it ages.

"The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone."

— Psalm 118:22
ii. Side 02 — Mediterranean Estate

Built for the
second century.

Limestone arches. Walnut beams. Venetian plaster that catches an afternoon. We build Palm Beach & Italianate estates the way they were meant to be built — with materials that age into beauty rather than out of fashion.

Mediterranean estate colonnade with limestone arches casting shadows across travertine flooring, central reflecting pool, walnut beams overhead
06The loggia, at the magic hour
Mediterranean estate kitchen with arched plaster range hood, limestone island, Calacatta marble counters, walnut cabinetry, and exposed ceiling beams
07The estate kitchen
Carved limestone vessel tub beneath an arched iron window, Venetian plaster walls, terracotta tile floor, unlacquered brass fixtures
08European-inspired bath
Mediterranean courtyard with limestone arched colonnade, central fountain, cypress trees, bougainvillea on a Venetian plaster wall
09A coastal courtyard
Mediterranean outdoor kitchen on a Palm Beach estate loggia with arched limestone alcove, hand-laid terracotta backsplash, exposed wood beam ceiling
10The outdoor kitchen, Italianate
· Materials Library — Mediterranean

A palette from antiquity.

The Mediterranean palette is older than any of us. We use what the Romans, the Venetians, and the Florentines used — refined for a Palm Beach client. Select a material to learn its story.

"Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them."

— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, c. 170 A.D.
iii. The Intelligent Home · Wellness by Design

A house that
knows you.

A third world, between the two. Estate-level architecture, woven with ambient intelligence and a private wellness suite. The house remembers your rhythm — when to dim, when to heat the plunge, when to deploy eucalyptus into the steam — so that arriving home feels less like turning on a system and more like being expected.

Cinematic residential wellness corridor at dusk: glass-walled steam room with eucalyptus mist on one side, basalt-lined cold plunge on the other, warm-glowing cedar sauna door at the far end
11The wellness corridor
Vaulted Venetian plaster steam room with teak bench, hidden LED reveal, eucalyptus mist catching warm light from an arched window
12Eucalyptus steam, on a schedule
Sunken cold plunge basin lined in basalt stone, hidden LED reveal under the lip, against a board-formed concrete wall with a Japanese maple
13The cold plunge, ready at 38°
Western red cedar infrared sauna interior with chromotherapy LED ribbon along the bench, frosted glass window, warm honey wood tones
14Cedar infrared, chromotherapy
Halotherapy salt room with translucent backlit Himalayan salt brick wall, Venetian plaster opposing wall, polished travertine floor with crystallized salt
15Himalayan halotherapy
Warm modern primary suite at dawn with automated drapes opening to reveal a Florida coastal palm view, hidden LED rising from amber to warm white, a flush bronze touchscreen panel barely visible in the concrete wall
16The house, waking with you
· The Salt Cave Sanctuary

A cave of light,
inside the house.

The newest room nobody knew they wanted. Walls built entirely from hand-stacked Himalayan salt brick, backlit from within, paired with red-light therapy panels overhead and a silent stone waterfall in the corner. A sanctuary you walk into to regenerate — breath, skin, sleep, the nervous system itself.

Indoor residential salt cave with hand-stacked Himalayan pink salt brick walls glowing from within, a sculptural teak bench, a silent rock waterfall in the corner, and crystalline salt scattered across the travertine floor
17The cave, at first light
Salt cave bathed in deep crimson red-light therapy from ceiling-mounted panels, zero-gravity wellness recliner in dark walnut and linen oriented toward the light source
18Red light · halotherapy, paired
Detail corner of a salt cave: warm amber backlit Himalayan salt brick wall meeting a silent natural rock waterfall sheeting into a hidden basin, a salt crystal lamp on a recessed shelf
19The silent waterfall
· Why a salt cave belongs in a great house

Halotherapy is among the oldest forms of restorative practice — nineteenth-century Polish miners noticed their lungs improved underground. Pair it with twenty-first-century photobiomodulation and the modern equivalent is a private sanctuary that quietly works on you.

01

Respiratory clearance

Inhaled microparticles of pharmaceutical-grade salt thin mucus, clear airways, and create an allergen-free atmosphere. Often noted by those with asthma, allergies, chronic cough, and post-viral congestion.

02

Skin restoration

Salt-saturated air paired with red-light therapy at 630–660 nm is widely cited for hydration, collagen stimulation, and easing eczema, psoriasis, and rosacea-like skin conditions.

03

Stress & sleep

The combination of negative ions, amber glow, silence (or chosen audio), and a recline-only posture moves the nervous system into a parasympathetic state. Most owners report deeper sleep that same night.

04

Recovery & circulation

Red light therapy is studied for cellular repair, reduced inflammation, and faster muscle recovery. Combined with the halotherapy environment, a 20-minute session can replace a much longer recovery routine.

05

Cognition & mood

Negative-ion-rich environments are linked anecdotally to clearer thinking and improved mood. Owners use the cave as a midday reset — a fifteen-minute pause that resets the rest of the day.

06

A daily ritual

Unlike a vacation spa, a salt cave at home is used. Most clients report 4–6 sessions a week within the first month — because the friction is zero and the room is calling.

The atmosphere is yours to choose
  • ·The silent waterfall, only
  • ·Brian Eno ambient or chosen playlist
  • ·Tibetan singing bowls, scheduled
  • ·Guided meditation, by voice
  • ·Pure quiet — a rare luxury

Halotherapy and red-light therapy are wellness practices, not medical treatments. We design beautiful sanctuaries; discuss therapeutic claims with your physician.

· Intelligent Systems

An invisible butler.

No tablets on the wall. No apps to open. The house learns your patterns — and acts on them. Select a system to see how.

· Wellness Materials

Surfaces that restore.

The materials of the wellness suite are chosen for what they do to the body, not only the eye. Each surface is a quiet form of therapy.

"千里之行,始於足下。"
A journey of a thousand miles begins beneath one's feet.

— Laozi, Tao Te Ching
iv. Outdoor Living

The fifth
elevation.

The yard is not an afterthought. It is the room you live in. Pools that disappear into a horizon. Fire that doubles itself in still water. Lighting that quiets at dusk, then sings. Outdoor living, treated with the same restraint as the architecture inside.

Massive infinity-edge resort pool at deep twilight with four warm fire bowls reflecting in still water, framed by tall palms
Luxury patio with linear gas fire trough along a limestone wall, infinity pool, palms, and ocean horizon at dusk
Massive infinity-edge pool at midday framed by royal palms, water spilling toward the ocean, limestone deck
Monolithic limestone fire bowl on a travertine deck at deep twilight, single steady flame reflected in the still infinity pool, palms uplit in the background, ocean horizon beyond
11A fire bowl at the edge of the water
Luxury Florida estate loggia with limestone arches and walnut ceiling beams framing an infinity pool and ocean horizon at golden hour
12The loggia, looking out
Pools that vanish.
Fire that reflects.
Light that knows the hour.
· Pool & Patio Materials

Choose the ground
you walk on.

From the deck underfoot to the tile inside the pool, every outdoor surface earns its place. Select a material to learn what it does, where it lives, and how it ages in coastal sun & salt air.

"We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us."

— Winston Churchill (after Vitruvian thought, 1943)
v. The Atelier

How a great
house is built.

Every project begins with restraint — a single defining idea the rest of the house defers to. From there we build slowly, in the right materials, with the right hands. The result reads, decades later, as inevitable.

— Founder

Michael Glivar, Principal

“Cutting Edge is a private atelier led by Michael Glivar. We accept a limited number of residential commissions each year — for clients who value restraint over spectacle, materials over trends, and the quiet permanence of a house built to outlive the moment that built it.”

i.

Concept & Moodboard

A defining idea, a tight set of materials, a visual identity. Before a single line is drawn, we know what the house wants to be.

ii.

Architecture & Curation

Architecture references curated to estate calibre. We design to the brief, not the trend. Every wall earns its place.

iii.

Build & Specify

Construction by tradespeople who understand the difference between framed and crafted. Materials specified to age into the house.

iv.

Final Reveal

The cinematic homepage of the project: the courtyard at dusk, the fire in still water, the door swinging open for the first time.

vi. Begin Your Project Vision

Designed around
the way you want to live.

We accept a small number of residential projects each year. Tell us about the world you want to live inside of, and we’ll prepare a private design consultation — thirty minutes, virtual, no obligation.

  1. i. The Project
  2. ii. Investment Range
  3. iii. Private Consultation
Step One

What shall we design for you?

Select the project closest to your vision. We’ll narrow from there.

Step Two · —

Select your project investment range.

A discreet conversation about scope, so we can prepare the right design team. All consultations are confidential.

Step Three · Private Consultation

Reserve a Private Design Consultation.

A thirty-minute virtual session with our principal designer. We’ll review your vision, recommend a direction, and outline the path forward. No obligation.

We respond within one business day to confirm a time. Consultations are conducted privately by appointment.