Before the design for his glassy Miami condo remodel was finished, Greek shipping magnate Ion Varouxakis invited his architect to spend a week with him touring the Greek islands on his circa-1921, 125-foot-long sailboat.

Mr. Varouxakis's intent was to show the architect, Miami-based Rene Gonzalez, two things: first the environment he most loved -- sky, water and air, with the reflection of light and openness; second, how comfortable he was with minimalism. 'Onboard a boat you learn to use few things. I like simplicity,' said Mr. Varouxakis, who previously lived on his yacht for a year. He also wanted to establish a relationship of trust with his architect.

Mr. Gonzales got all that -- and a better understanding of Mr. Varouxakis, 41, who is unmarried and divides his time between Paris, Athens and the Greek island of Sifnos when he isn't traveling around the world to manage FreeSeas, his oceangoing-cargo company. 'I realized he was perfectly happy living in ways that are unconventional,' said Mr. Gonzales.

The resulting remodel of the shipping magnate's 37th-floor Miami Beach condo turned a three-bedroom, closed-in space into a two-bedroom open loft. Finished in the fall, the 2,000-square-foot condo, which has an 800-square-foot terrace, took about two years and cost about $1.5 million to renovate.

Entering the home from the building's dark hallway is like stepping into the sky. The effect comes partly from the all-glass exterior walls, with their view of Biscayne Bay, downtown Miami, the city's port terminal and a series of small islands. But it's also from the unconventional materials and techniques chosen by Mr. Gonzales. The ceiling, made of a rubbery latex, is slightly angled and shifts from translucent white to opaque gray. During the day, it mirrors the sky, water, islands and clouds; at night, it reflects the oranges, pinks and purples of the sunsets and then, later, the city's lights.

There are interior walls made of stainless-steel vertical panels that slide to open or close off rooms or create smaller openings. Mirrored, the panels, in the main room of the house, also pivot to capture fragments of different views. A large sculpture separating the living and dining areas is also made from reflective materials. All the refracted light and reflection gives a feeling of infinite space, like being on the bow of a ship.

A shiplike sensibility also comes from the smaller rooms. The cubby-like library, windowless as it is in the back of the condo, is nicknamed the 'ship's cabin' and is full of teak. There are also no windows in the kitchen, a closed-off galley space right by the front entrance; Mr. Varouxakis often hires someone to cook for parties and didn't want cooking smells permeating the rest of the space. The master bathroom has a deep tub with teak lounge chairs next to it, like a swimming pool on the deck of a ship.

The pivoting and sliding panels allow Mr. Varouxakis to control his space: He can close up the master bedroom and library fully or partially from the living and dining area, and he can decide which views he wants to reflect. 'Once you start to interact with architecture, you start to make it your own. You love it and understand it more,' said Mr. Gonzales. Mr. Varouxakis said he likes all the shifting and sliding. 'I don't like repetition. I don't like to be bored.'

The son of a Greek diplomat, Mr. Varouxakis grew up in Europe and founded his company in 2003. He operates seven ships that carry dry bulk cargo -- iron ore, coal, rice, sugar -- around the world.

Mr. Varouxakis first came to Miami a decade ago to inspect the sailboat that he would later use to travel with Mr. Gonzales. He loved the city, which he calls vibrant and exotic but with 'the environment and the safety of the First World.' He bought the condo in 2008 for $1.985 million and lived in it for a year and a half before making changes. A two-bedroom, 1,933-square-foot condo in the same building is currently for sale for $2.8 million

He now spends four days at a time in Miami several times a year, almost always attending the city's Art Basel fair. That's where he met a gallery owner who introduced him to Mr. Gonzales, whose firm designed Miami's Alchemist store -- a glass box inserted into the fifth floor of a parking structure -- and the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation.

Despite the owner's interest in art, the walls of the condo are bare. Mr. Varouxakis, who has a lot of traditional art at home in Greece, said he thinks more art might make the place 'more human.' His mother, Emmy, visiting from one of her homes in Paris, Barcelona and Athens, agreed. 'Right now, it's a movie star's apartment,' she said.

But Mr. Varouxakis said their time spent together on his yacht also strengthened the trust he had in Mr. Gonzales, who has warned him that additional art could reduce the impact of the materials in reflecting the sky, water and air that Mr. Varouxakis requested. 'This space is constantlyreading what you have around you. It doesn't require art,' he said.