Designed by one of the leading swimming pool designers in the world, Brian Van Bower of Aquatic Consultants, Inc this spectacular engineering achievement is a perimeter overflow pool with a Lautner’s knife edge and a negative edge, overlooking the beautiful Appalachian Mountains. The Pool is cantilevered and suspended 50 feet above the ground, falling 400 feet from the foot of the structure to the valley floor.
This project is as unique in its style as it is in its technical construction aspects.
The overall style complements the home with its transition from the strong linear lines of the home’s architecture to the soft curves of the mountains in the viewing plane. The reflective quality of the pool is leveraged with the use of black glass tile throughout the pool to bring the vastness of the view in the distance into the element of the viewers’ living space. It connects the heavens and earth within a space that we walk, dine, bathe, celebrate & contemplate.
The construction took place with very limited access through the home which was already well underway with construction. It cantilevers over the supporting walls, making the engineering a challenge as well as the construction. The irony is for all the mass of the steel and concrete to create this pool, it feels like a delicate glass sculpture with the softness of the fog that rolls over it daily.
The pool is just over 700 sq feet in size with an all-black glass mosaic tile interior surface. Black granite was used on the spa for a smoother feel and look.
The shell was created using a dry-mix Shotcrete (Gunite), installed by Revolution Gunite and enhanced with silica fume as a waterproofing agent. The Shotcrete placement of this pool won the Outstanding Project of the Year Award for the American Shotcrete Association for 2015.
The fire pit is a Bobe fire feature.
The equipment room and surge tank are located below the pool.
The water chemistry and all amenities, such as the fire, spa & lights, are fully automated and accessible via a smart phone. The pool is set up for remote water chemistry monitoring as well.
There is even a wind sensor installed to shut the system down during high winds, which frequent the area.
For this project, Clearwater Construction Group recently received the highly coveted Overall Pinnacle Award by Luxury Pool Magazine for 2016. As well, it won the International Awards of Excellence Gold Medal for the Association of Pool and Spa Professionals for 2016.