Who It Takes

Who built Leslie House?

Leslie House took an architect (Hyejin Yang, SOOP), a structural engineer of record (Nodal Structures), a pool engineer of record (Watershape Consulting), a stainless vessel fabricator (Diamond Spas), an electrical contractor (Battle Electric, EC13013134), an impact-rated glazing system (E.S. Windows ES-8000), a photographer (Kahu Visionworks), and a general contractor that self-performed roofing, plumbing and shell (Academia Development Corp).

Architecture

The design is by Hyejin Yang, principal of SOOP — a studio with offices in Miami, Cincinnati and Seoul. SOOP describes the brief for this house in three words: monolithic, interlocking, blended. Hyejin Yang held Florida registration AR100091 and remained present through the build, managing a set of drawings precise enough to accommodate the owner's on-the-go design changes while still producing accurate shop drawings for the steel, the stair and the glazing. Leslie House is the studio's flagship independent commission.

Structural and pool engineering

Two engineers of record sealed the work at Leslie House. Nodal Structures, based in Sunrise, Florida, held the structural scope: foundations, cast-in-place concrete, structural steel, precast decks, and the circular glass stair. Watershape Consulting held the pool engineering scope — a separate discipline from the structural work because a stainless vessel sitting on a roof deck requires its own load path analysis, waterproofing specification, and engineering seal independent of the building frame beneath it.

Fabrication and specialist trades

Diamond Spas fabricated the stainless steel pool vessel off site and delivered it crated and finished. It arrived in one piece and was set onto the roof structure in a single crane pick. Battle Electric, holding electrical contractor license EC13013134, carried the full electrical scope: service, sub-feeds, structured low-voltage cabling on its own permit, and the architectural LED lighting detailed into the structure. The glazing system is the E.S. Windows ES-8000 aluminium window-wall, which carries a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance for a design pressure of ±130 psf — the product approval required for work in the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone.

Photography

Kahu Visionworks documented the project from March 2024 through March 2025, on site through every structural phase and from the air. A build record is a record only if somebody was there to make it. The images on this site are theirs.

General contracting

Academia Development Corp, certified general contractor CGC1528882, held the general contractor license of record. Three scopes were self-performed rather than subcontracted: roofing under license CCC1332624, plumbing under license CFC1432695, and the concrete and block shell. Trade award and buyout, engineering review, sequencing, and agency coordination were all carried under the same license and the same party accountability.