Oil Nut Bay, Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands · Caribbean

David V. Johnson came to the British Virgin Islands in 2004 with four decades of development behind him and forty-three master-planned communities to his name. What he wanted at Oil Nut Bay was a place families could return to across generations, held in balance with the nature around it, and that aim set the terms for everything that followed.

OBMI joined in 2009, working across bespoke residences, the Marina Village, the spa, the Nut House children's centre and, most recently, the Beach Club. Owners have since commissioned OBMI directly for houses of their own, so the practice has worked on both sides of the community, for the developer who planned it and for the people who live in it.

The answer was low density and dispersal. Residences sit across eight neighbourhoods at generous separation, tucked into hillside and vegetation so that neighbours are rarely visible from one another. The buildings follow the contours they found, which keeps the natural drainage running and leaves the standing flora intact.

The approach is by boat, and the place assembles on the way in: the marina first, then the hillside above it with houses half-hidden in green, and roofs planted so thoroughly that a building can be missed altogether. Guests move by electric cart on paths winding between neighbourhoods.

Inside, the buildings are open to the weather. Ceilings rise high, glass walls telescope back into their frames, and the trade winds come through the rooms and out the other side, so the air is almost always moving. The line between a living room and a terrace stops meaning much.

Turtles and stingrays can be snorkelled directly off the beach. Rescued horses live in a barn on the property. The Beach Club runs quiet while the Marina Village fills in the evening, so the community holds both a hush and a gathering place.