One of the most striking features of Elijah Jordan's Jacksonville home is the scorpion shape it takes on from the air. A two-car portico (the tail) extends from the back of the house, covering the main entrance at the rear. The same roof line extends over the end of a clerestory to the center of the house. At this point, the house widens, and two rooms jut from either side at 30-degree angles. The front of the house, with its squarish face, forms the head, and wooden beams extend beneath the windows of each of the angled rooms, giving a claw effect. The look from the air, insists Jordan, happened purely by accident.

The home is filled throughout with natural cherry wood, granite, slate, hand-scraped red oak flooring, a cloth wall covering made of grass in the guest and recreation rooms, and mosaic tile. The décor is a mix of Asian, African and 1950s American style.

Other features include:

• A wine cellar and cigar room carved beneath the house into the bedrock to maintain cool temperatures and give the room a cave-like feel. The cellar features a bar, low ceilings and a vented ceiling for the cigar smoke. "It's kind of a getaway for the guys," he says.
• A clerestory above the entrance, hall and great room. Sun shines though the windows at various points all through the day and at different angles depending on the seasons. This allows for a constant yet changing play of light in the house. Because it is west-facing, the clerestory allows for passive solar heating in the winter and cooling in the summer when the windows are open.
• A master bedroom extending from the house at a 30-degree angle for the purpose of taking in the view of a forested valley out the main window. The room features a Jacuzzi tub near the bed, with tiled sides that have been lowered to watch television or to gaze out the window.
• A kitchen with a five-seat bar that strategically faces a large flat-screen inset television high over the refrigerator. Facing the bar is a Jenn-Air down-draft gas range which allows Jordan to face his guest at the bar and hold conversations while cooking.
• The great room, which includes the kitchen, a dining area with recessed wine racks and wine chiller and sitting area. It has at its center a see-through gas fireplace situated between two giant columns which are the main structural support of the house. All beams come into the columns, which are anchored in the ground.
• A recreation room on the ground level of the home. It features hydronic radiant floor heating and is light and bright with awning windows on every exterior wall.
• An under-construction pool and a waterfall that will serve to cool in the summer and be used as a hot tub in the winter. The pool is viewed from above by one of two cantilevered decks whose railings appear to float because they have limited structural anchors.