For this project, local Rundle stone — also used on the house front — shares space with a custom stainless steel spa shell. The whole installation is meant to showcase the majestic view of the Rockies from this Calgary-area home.
To maximize the million-dollar vista, and provide eye candy for the adjacent cigar room, the builders elevated the spa area 4 feet from the land’s original elevation. A round hot tub was chosen so users could precisely fine-tune their view.
The designers didn’t want the electronics to distract from the materials. To minimize their visual impact, installers embedded the spa control panel into rock.
“We basically chiseled through the rock and placed a spa-side LED control right into the stone,” Kondi says. “It’s all mitered right in, so it looks like it was built in the rock.”
Workers placed a template on the rock and used that to dictate their hand chiseling. A hole for the cable was drilled into the back to send the cable through the rock. Speakers for the sound system were concealed with loose stones. During winter, hydronic in-slab heating melts the snow on the path to the hot tub.
