The man behind the Funky Fish Houses

COURTESY RENDERING An artist's rendering of the Funky Fish Houses at Cape Harbour's Marina in Cape Coral. From the time he was a boy, nature and the sea have always had a powerful influence on Steve Turner. He embraced it as a youth, painted it as a young artist and today its influence gives excitement, variety and adventure to his architectural work.

Mr. Turner is the artist, designer and half of the creative team behind the Funky Fish House project, a first-ofits kind Cape Coral cottage community now under construction along Cape Harbour's Marina.

It is a product of Realmark Development President Will Stout's longtime association with Mr. Turner, a highly accredited artist and home designer. The two began talking of Fish House concept and resulted in the overall cottagecommunity design plan. Mr. Turner is now overseeing the architectural design phase of construction for Mr. Stout's fish house on Lot 19, and the three-story cottage of another client on another lot along the Marina waterway.

Inspired by the old homes of Key West, Mr. Turner uses the same images reshuffled to accommodate a new generation of homeowners. His new space is complemented by lots of windows, balconies, observations decks, cupola rooms, walkways with ornate entry gates, and first floor living levels with decks that extend, in some cases, up to 25 feet over the water.

One design features a three-story home with amenities such as a 14-foot high garage, enough space to accommodate two cars and perhaps a motorcycle; a third floor master suite with a morning kitchen and bypass door that opens into a master sitting room with full bath, a room which could double as another bedroom. A cantilevered balcony off the master suite extends 18 feet across the back of the cottage, and a unique spiral staircase accesses an observation deck at roof level to take in the spectacular sunsets and coastal views.

Mr. Turner's Funky Fish House cottage community portfolio contains the typical elevation designs for the two-, three- and four-story cottages, front and waterside; along with the concept of the village units and overall roadway plan and building footprints for all 19 fish house building sites.

To help new owners create their individual homes that will make up this colorful neighborhood, Realmark's selected team of professional builders includes Marino Construction Group Inc., Island Development LLC, Tudor Villas Construction, Wyman Stokes Builder Inc., Paul Homes, PGI Homes, and Florida Lifestyle Homes of Fort Myers Inc.