We started working with Hawksview Estate six years ago when the luxury estate on the island of St. John in the US Virgin Islands was still being built. The owners wanted to rent the villa for a few week each year, and needed a website to showcase the stunning home they were building. We designed and developed the first site, which stayed in place from 2001 through 2007.

This year, we completely redesigned the site to accommodate larger photograhy and give a more modern experience of the estate. Now that the house and grounds are finished and established, we needed to photography to augment the site. As a bonus, the property was featured on the cover of Architectural Digest magazine in the fall of 2007 and we wanted to build on that exposure. This was a good opportunity to upgrade the existing virtual tour, add some Flash animation to the home page, and try out some new AJAX elements to improve the experience of site visitors.

The number one goal was to really show people how beautiful, unique, and special the estate is. The site is full of gorgeous photography that tells the story of both life in the islands and modern convenience. Merging classic elements with organic textures, we played off the tones of turquoise water and golden sand to give visitors a sense of what it’s like to be at the estate.

We’re very excited about the launch of this site since it’s a treat to work with such fantastic imagery and immerse ourselves in the island life. Next stop, St. John!

Tagged as portfolio, projects, Using technology + Categorized as Deeds Done & Things Made