Black clouds charge across Indian Creek Island on the morning that Miami architect Rene Gonzalez visits the construction site of his latest project -- a sleek, eye-poppingly expensive house that is so vast it could almost double as a resort.

There is only a shell so far, engulfed in dust and the drone of drills and power saws. But already you can make out the contemporary subtropical daydream the house will become.

Large, open living spaces will allow occupants to glide around 20,000 square feet of minimalist elegance, unfettered by too many walls or doors. Grassy courtyards and rooftops will bring the inside out and floor-to-ceiling glass will bring the outside in. Interior and exterior pools will appear to stream into one another and blend with the bay.

''The South Florida light was an important consideration,'' says the soft-spoken Gonzalez. Cuba-born and Fort Lauderdale-raised, he is gaining a reputation for his understated but edgy design sensibilities.

Among his credits in Miami is cifo, home of the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, transformed from an abandoned boxing gym into an artful space with a mosaic-covered facade that makes the place appear like an abstract tropical jungle in the middle of downtown blight.

He also took a former warehouse on scruffy 25th Street in Wynwood and turned it into The Space, an upscale party venue-production facility for Karla Dascal, one of Miami's top event designers. The building, which features backlit acrylic walls and shiny epoxy floors, won Gonzalez an award from the American Institute of Architects.

In about three months, construction should begin on another project: an airy community center for North Shore Park in Miami Beach.

''It will contrast with the verticality of the band shell there, and will be wrapped in perforated panels that will be backlit and at night will look like fireflies lighting up the park,'' says Gonzalez, who studied design at the University of Florida and got his master's in architecture from UCLA.

FOCUSED ON PROJECT

These days, his focus is seeing through construction of the Indian Creek house.

''The whole project was developed based on light pattern studies. There were a few royal palms on the property when we started -- we added more -- and they were immediately striking because their shadows were so long,'' Gonzalez says while standing outside what will be the front doors.

In seconds, a fierce summer rain forces him and his visitors deeper into the unfinished structure, which will be clad in smooth limestone.

''A rain storm can be really nice,'' he says, staring out at the rough bay. ``Especially in a house like this that is so open to the outside. The idea is for the house to blend with the natural elements of South Florida.''

Also checking in on the construction is Felix Cohen, owner of Oxygene boutique at Bal Harbour Shops, who, along with business partner Shlomi Alexander, commissioned Gonzalez to design this house.

If Cohen succeeds in his stated goal of selling it for $55 million, the house would be one of the most expensive in Miami-Dade and Broward.

No, Cohen says, he is not worried that the throttled economy will sink his plans. ``There were many who were hurt by the economy. But the house is aimed at a very specific market that maybe is not so affected. Even if you are not looking to move to Miami, when you see this house finished, if you have the means, you will want to own it.''

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