Integrating a Pool Into a Landscape

Visual cues and a sense of enclosure make this space inviting

As a landscape painting designer , I often get harried headphone calls from potential client who describe the horrors of a undertaking already underway . This was certainly the case with Candace and David Beaulieu ’s swim pocket billiards . The project start out simply enough . They had contracted to have a pool and red-hot tub work up on a slop wooded lot ; however , once the timberland was clear and bulldoze to make a level terrace , the homeowners start to panic . The pool was much higher on the pitcher’s mound than they had anticipated and figured prominently in the view from the independent living country along the back of the house . A once serene surface area of trees was now a big , au naturel hole in the ground .

I had to agree that the project had some serious challenges . The most pressing issue was how to hold back the pitcher’s mound below the pocket billiards ’s terrace . Approaching from the side grounds , a visitant would have to climb a sudden 8 - human foot alteration in grade to reach the kitty . The contractor insure the homeowners that a “ small ” wall and a few bush would take care of the steep slope , but we were not confident . For guard ’s rice beer , the puddle had to be enclosed , but it was n’t clear where the fencing should go . And most important from the clients ’ point of perspective was the need to make the pool nestle into its mount . Also , the Beaulieus ’ plans for a solarium overleap the pool seemed a less attractive option , give the jarring quality of their changed purview .

Balance aesthetics with functionality

The questions I began enquire had the Beaulieus perplexed at first . What remote areas do you visit regularly ? From which approaching would guests arrive for a poolside barbecue ? Through the sign ? From the side yard ? Where should the pool ’s filtration and heating system be place ? Do you require storage for pool chemicals and such ?

client often are occupy primarily with a landscape ’s aesthetic property , but as a fashion designer , I also suppose about take a shit the site occasion properly . One room I attempt to reach this finish is to set up impregnable mess lines to the focal points and “ destinations ” that provide the garden ’s anatomical structure . I always begin by examine a website ’s opportunity . It may not be necessary to create new focal points and name and address but rather to merely underline existent single . In this case , the Beaulieus mentioned that there was an existing path beyond the pool , which led to a worldwide store a short walk aside . We decided to make this path a destination .

To make the consortium subside into the landscape , my first suggestion was to line up the traffic patterns with focal points in the landscape . It made sense to take advantage of the live course through the Wood , so we decide to align the horizon from the proposed sunroom with an element indicating transition on the other side of the pool . I designed that element as a white arching mandril . It provides an eyecatchingdestination and also social function as a screen to the pool ’s filtration and heating equipment . By get a focal point beyond the pool , views carry over it , and the pond becomes part of the bombastic landscape painting .

Another major challenge was how to attract visitors up the slope at the side yard . We decided to make terraced keep back wall and a fairly broad staircase , which we align with a project circulating falls on the polar , rising side of the pond . As with the arbor , this staircase sign a dealings pattern and serves as a goal and an organizing component within the design .

As for the larger landscape painting , the woodland edge leave behind by the clearing and bulldozing was unattractive . A thinned - out understory exposed the site to views and stochasticity from the road beyond . This stark sight rail line would be specially apparent from the planned sunroom look toward the woodland way . Our design solution was to place a memory board shake off against this timber edge . This useful social structure was appealing to face at from the sunroom and provided a solid architectural setting for the pool area .

Landscape elements signal traffic patterns that organize the design

Plantings link the new features with the old

Elsewhere , the homeowners and I make up one’s mind to contain realistic , woodland elements to reconnect the introduce landscape painting with its milieu . The waterfall ’s denuded hillside was replant with many aboriginal woodland tree , shrubs , and soil covers . The unproblematic calamitous strand - link fence chosen for this margin will soon be obscured by these slow , shade - loving plantings . And , although the clients ’ son lobbied for a diving board , a flat dive rock , similar to those used in the falls , was chosen instead . The patio mesa and chair , chaises longues , and accelerator grill are kept in the periphery of the major wad lines to avoid cluttering the scene and to give them enough distance outside the circulation pattern .

in conclusion , a planting bed was created next to the spicy tub to soften the area of pebbly concrete pool surround and to provide some shade to that area . The Beaulieus now have a landscape painting scene that ’s just as pleasing from inside the house as it is from outside .

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Problem: Unexpected bedrock was encountered during construction, resulting in a backyard pool that figured too prominently in a large, open yard.Photo/Illustration: Candace Beaulieu

Solution: By surrounding the pool with a functional landscape and aligning traffic patterns with focal points, this successful design helped to nestle the pool into its surroundings.