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Title:0426
Project:Pool House
Year Completed:2004

Description:
 
Goals and Needs/Program:
  • A sheltered destination point for summer entertaining adjacent to a new salt water pool.
  • The owners wanted the architecture and the atmosphere of the space to inspire the relaxed feeling of a vacation spot right in their own backyard.
  • Visibility from the main house was important as a beacon of destination in the wilderness of the backyard. Visibility for supervision and communication as well
  • In addition to a covered seating area, the structure was to contain a pool bath, kitchen/ bar.  
  • Off-season, the pool house structure was to be an attractive completely closed structure for secure storage of outdoor furniture etc.
  • Easily secured and unsecured on a daily basis.
  • Assisted the owner in selecting materials, finishes and fixtures in keeping with the design.
Design Challenges:
  • The structure location was located at very low and distant place on the steeply sloping site, yet it was to have a visual connection to the house above.
  • Create a view from above that complemented the natural surroundings.
  • Create the atmosphere of vacation place without making it appear out of place from the main house.
  • Conceal the noise and visibility of the equipment/filter for the adjacent pool within the rear yard building set back.
  • Utilize the sloped yard to enhance the design rather than see it as an obstacle. The rear yard setback line was too close to the hill and left no level ground for the structure.
  • Coordination and definition of the many design-build entities; defining work scopes.
Concept Solutions:
  • Design an exterior focal point visible from the house that is unique in shape, and fits naturally in the wooded back yard. The Roof shape creates height for visibility, and the wood shake material blends with the woods.
  • Use the roof shape, and materials to evoke the atmosphere of an exotic vacation place, such as a wood hut next to the salt water “sea” of the pool. The stained wood interior ceiling follows the form of the steep pitched roof to give the room an up lit spacious feel complete with a pendant mounted ceiling fan
  • Design a small pavilion that lives larger than its roof print by expanding the floor surface beyond the area of the building. The circular border of the pavement around the structure emphasizes a view in the round, and visually expands the covered area towards to the wooded outdoors.
  • The angle of the building accents the deepest view through the woods borrowing from common land and creates an axis with the length of the pool.
  • For privacy, the bathroom and kitchen/bar, shields the view of the neighbor’s house.
  • Cut and fill the topography to create a basement for the pool equipment/filter accessible from a walkout door hidden from view at the rear.
  • Large, retractable, colored, metal rolling shutters can completely secure the interior in off-season as well as nightly at the push of a button.
  • Multiple coordination meetings with the pool company, boulder retaining wall designer, and general contractor to discuss site access, work space, and staging.
Supporting Design Features:
  • Large automatically retractable screens, at the push of a button, offers instant mosquito protection when desired, and an open space when desired.
  • We assisted the owner in selecting the materials, finishes and fixtures in keeping with the design.
  • Boulder retaining walls at the pool house perimeter provide nooks and crannies for landscape planting, and provide breathing room at the pool house level as well as drainage away from the pool house floor.
  • Materials: wood board and batten siding, wood shakes, wood stain, and paint colors, blend into the natural surroundings and the existing house.