George Moreno III | CEO/Principal | George Moreno & Partners | Panama Pacifico, Panama
Joan Roca | President | Imerzion Corp. | Panama Pacifico, Panama
High-Level Achievement
For his own second-story apartment in Panama, architect George Moreno wanted an L-shaped pool to suit the modern luxury complex he designed.
Slideshow: TROPICAL SLEEK
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George Moreno & Partners
Panama Pacifico, Panama
Imerzion Corp.
Panama Pacifico, Panama
He and pool designer Joan Roca decided to give the pool a vanishing edge. At first, the developer wouldn’t consent to a spillway on an upper floor, fearing the water would migrate onto another residence. Roca, a Genesis member, had to sign a guarantee.
When the pool designer came on board, the apartment complex had already been built with a hole for the pool. Roca and Moreno wanted a larger waterscape, but expanding the hole wasn’t possible. Instead, Roca added a substantial shallow sunshelf to the original pool’s footprint, which wouldn’t require the extraordinary measures of expanding the deeper hole. Floating steps allow easy motion through the relatively tight space.
The team placed the focal points where the pool’s legs intersect. A wall with sheet waterfall stands outside the pool. In the water, a submersible fire pit seems to float, creating that dynamic relationship between fire and water.
To recreate the color of the ocean, the pool interior is finished in a Greek marble called silver gray, custom cut into a 4-by-4-inch format.
The team chose wood for the deck and floating steps to add warmth to the environment. They selected a very dense local species called almendro, known for its strength.
Roca kept a tight gap between the deck and the pool’s waterline to emulate the look of a slot overflow edge without the technical complications of engineering one on a rooftop.
SUPPLIERS
Pumps, filter, heater, controller, sanitation, waterfeature, lights, autofill: Pentair
Interior finish/tile: Stonetech Gonianakis
Fire feature: Fire by Design
Drain covers/fittings: Waterway Plastics
Waterproofing: Basecrete
