• Photo: Catherine Tighe. Due to the slope of the site, the swimmer is 12’ above grade at the deep end of the pool near the window. The pool finish, applied by hand, is a tinted plaster in a bluish-grey color achieved by mixing several standard dry pigments. The room is heated by the pool water and the radiant heat in the concrete floor slab. The floor and pool coping is green quartzite tile; the walls are a combination of the Brazilian Azul du Mar marble and the green Costa Esmerelda granite. The wood frame of the Duratherm sliding and fixed doors and windows is in a clear finish mahogany; the tongue-and-groove ceiling is made from sapelle, as are the wood panels above the east-facing openings. The glass ceiling panels are laminated with a translucent inner layer, minimally gapped for air flow, and held in place to a Uni-Strut steel system above with stainless steel Tri-Pyramid standoffs. Leveling of the glass panels was challenging and was made possible by the adjustable anchors. At the ceiling plane change, 520 stainless steel rods threaded with fiber-optic strands light the space. The dots of light reflect off the ceiling glass, the wall glazing and the water, particularly as the outside light level dims.
    • Photo: Catherine Tighe
    • Photo: Catherine Tighe
    • Photo by Catherine Tighe. A shower with a translucent glass exterior wall and interior hinged glass doors (not installed at the time of the photo) is used for washing before entering the chlorine-free pool. An electrified sliding pool cover can be used to maintain the water temperature and control the humidity when the pool is not in use. Sliding doors to the vestibule have an operable transom to the second floor master bedroom roof deck.
    • Spray of lighting between glass and wood ceiling planes
    • Photo: Catherine Tighe
    • Photo: Catherine Tighe
    • Photo: Catherine Tighe. View through sliding doors.
    • Light pattern across mosaic tile floor in pool room vestibule
    • The mosaic tile floor pattern was developed using a scan of an actual mock-up and computer modified to complete the full design pattern and border within a quartzite frame. The entire floor was then plotted at full size for use as a template and six panels were fabricated for installation. The panels were set and completed on-site with small tiles to integrate the panels seamlessly.

    Pool and Pool House

    The challenge was to add an enclosed lap pool to an existing 1940s center-hall stone house on a heavily wooded site. The location for the pool was determined by 3 factors: the original placement of the house and drive, the proximity to the property line and north neighbor and the steep slope caused by the house construction.

    Once identified, those factors created an opportunity to design an aesthetically distinctive, highly functional structure to provide year-round access to the chlorine-free lap pool, to address and enhance the clients’ appreciation of the natural environment, and to give a sense of intention to the placement of the existing house on the property.

    Consequently, the addition was placed adjacent to the existing sun room, with its long dimension running north-south. A highly penetrable steel, stone and glass enclosure offers a view of mature copper beech trees, flowering shrubs, and the sky. The new north courtyard and south terrace of the addition anchor the house definitively. The existing sun room was renovated to function as a tiled vestibule that now serves as a separate entrance to the pool and terrace, as a moisture control room between the pool and adjacent living areas, and as a small deck from the master bedroom on the second floor.

    The interior, with shifting ceiling planes of wood and glass, site-fabricated fiber-optic lighting, has a narrow palette of natural materials. The contrast between the solid stone and the light reflecting on the glass and water is especially remarkable at dawn and dusk.

    CREDITS:
    Architectural and lighting design: CLCMA, Charles Loomis, Chariss McAfee
    Lighting Consultant: BEAM, Adam Carangi
    Lighting installation:
    Charles Loomis, Chariss McAfee, Juliet Geldi, Lisa Hoover, Todd Hoover
    Mechanical design and specifications: Dietmar Kohler
    Construction and coordination: McCoubrey Overholser Building Construction, John McCoubrey
    Pool installation: Armond Aqua-Tech, Jeff Ciarrochi:
    Stone (exterior): Otto Construction, Otto Honyak
    Stone (interior): Michael Addesso Marble and Granite World, John Addesso
    Metal roofing: Walton Roofing and Siding, Michael Walton
    Custom woodwork: Furniture by Design, James van Etten
    Mosaic floor assembly: Souli Tile and Stone Shop, Ali Souli
    Light fixture metal fabrication: Moore Design, Steven Moore
    Mechanical installation: WB Scott, Wayne Bunting, Scott Herbine

    Read More