Designer:
Randy Angell
Lead Designer
Pool Environments
Randy Angell Designs
Plano, Texas
What the judges thought
The individual details are interesting and unique. The use of materials, color and textures is carried from wall treatments down to coping and deck. The wet wall inset behind the spa creates a focal point and soothing sounds. — Paolo Benedetti, president, Aquatic Technology Pool & Spa, Morgan Hill, Calif.
Floating illusion: This clean poolscape perfectly answers the client’s request for a simple rectangular pool with a focal wall to serve as a backdrop. The perimeter overflow pool already would look like a pane of glass on the deck. The designer hoped to layer onto this another optical illusion by created an all-acrylic spa that would look like a floating block of ice. When it became clear that would fall squarely out of budget, Randy Angell created this equally stunning effect. The spa is raised approximately 10 inches from the pool’s water level, and glowing glass tiles veneer the cap, interior and entire front wall of the spa for approximately 6 inches below the waterline, where it mees an in-water bench. “Then you get that reflection on the water that makes it look like it goes down even further than that into the pool,” Angell says. “It kind of blurs the line of reality.” Behind the spa, the homeowner and designer wanted a subtle showpiece waterfeature. The homeowner chose the black marble panel because of the movement created by the very prominent vein of white ore. A uniformly trickling rain curtain is placed in front of the recessed marble to add a sense of texture along with the gentle sound. The stainless steel handrail was custom fabricated by a local steelworker into a perfect half circle that, from the right view at night, would be completed into a full circle through the reflection.
Integral symmetry: A single wall spans from the pool area to the deck so it can house both the spa waterfeature and the fireplace. This wall served multiple purposes – not only did it create a unified and clean pallete on which to place both features, but it united the space and square up the angled property line. Inside the fireplace, the designer placed a panel of the same marble as the spa waterfeature – angling it severly to amplify the reflection of the fire and channel the heat directly to the seating area. The hearth is given a cantilevered feature at the base so it appears to float. “It’s such a cool modern take on what a fireplace should look like,” Angell says. Ipe wood boards are oriented to run lengthwise along the deck to create a more dramatic intersection between that material and the poured-in-place concrete back wall.
Inside look: Underneath the seating area is a large glass panel that offers a view into the perimeter-overflow catch basin, at the client’s request. The tank was finished with tile matching that used in the pool, along with chrome fittings to make it more attractive.
Drastic turnaround: The original pool.