Siggi Ragnar/sRagnar Fotografi

Tony Aguasvivas, Design Consultant
Elizabeth Barbour, Selects Designer
Will Parrott, Landscape Architect
Bill Sturgis, Construction Supervisor
Evan Toepperwein, Technical Supervisor
Keith Zars Pools
San Antonio

Built as part of a Parade of Homes, this pool had to provide a wow factor.

Though set in the Texas Hill Country, it was immediately clear that this pool would not work with the traditional freeform configuration. So the team developed a luxury, resort-style waterscape that would provide views to the many large windows on the home.

“We needed to tie all these areas in so you can visually see everything from this open house,” says Tony Aguasvivas, a design consultant with Keith Zars Pools in San Antonio.

For integration with the home, the team treated the pool like a giant waterfeature. A runnel type feature with bubblers runs through the courtyard, connecting to the inground spa on the way to a sizable sunshelf, which then provides entry to the main pool. A 4-foot raised wall with brass scuppers provides the backdrop opposite the home.

“Because there was a lot going on, we didn’t want to take away from that with a big waterfeature,” Aguasvivas says.

The scupper wall was veneered with large-format, 24-by-48-inch porcelain tiles and 2-inch eased-edge Leuders stone. The scuppers were chosen so that their understated beauty would complement the creams and whites of the tiled wall.

While the flagstone freeform normally found in Hill Country wouldn’t make sense with the more modern home, the team wanted to incorporate the hills nonetheless. Behind the scupper wall, berms, oaks, cedars and grass bring to mind the woodsy area.

“All the finishes were cleaner, but with the landscaping kind of keeping with that rugged area behind the pool, it kept with the Hill Country resort feel, but with a modern pool,” Aguasvivas says. “We really tried to plot a more modern geometric pool, but in a Hill Country setting.”

Pebble finish is used on the interior and the sun shelf. A straight-edged, gray-toned Lueders cut stone is used for the coping. The deck is finished in a porcelain tile that closely resembles travertine.