A CLOSER LOOK AT THE PROJECT
To say this is a unique project would be an understatement. The owners of this 20 plus year old home on Lake George had a very special request that required a significant amount of creative design, engineering, and unique skills from our construction team to put together. One can best appreciate the scope of this work by comparing the “before” pictures with the project completion photos.
Imagine standing with the owners down near the lake shore and looking up a steep slope towards the house and the owner says “We would like a pool up by the house and want it to be at the same level as the first floor. Can you help us create this space?” Looking up at the house, the elevation change between the ground and the
first floor is roughly (25) feet! A quick mental calculation puts that pool at about (20) feet in mid-air!
Our first response is, of course, we can figure this out! But first let’s talk more about how this might look and learn more about your individual goals. As with all our clients, we spend a long time talking about their desires and reviewing some of our other pool projects.
GOALS & DESIRES/ DESIGN COMPONENTS
- Incorporate an infinity edge pool that blends with the house and existing granite outcropping.
- Consider views from inside the house to the outside and vice versa when designing the pool area.
- Modify the existing dining room to integrate a new door in place of the window and multi-level deck that ties to the existing deck space off the family room.
- Design for multiple decks to create a dining space, covered relaxation space and a deck to connect between the dining room and living room.
- Lakeside wall of pool needs to visually blend to the existing granite outcropping and will likely be finished with a roughly squared & roughly rectangular granite veneer stone.
- The installation of pool fencing was very much not wanted.
- Integrate natural, organic shapes and materials for the new space and plantings.
- Design for storage areas for pool toys, supplies, etc.
CONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATION
Before beginning any design work, we reviewed potential restrictions required by the Town of Queensbury, Lake George Park Commission and the Department of Environmental Conservation. We quickly learned that, in Queensbury, pools are not allowed between the lake and the house. And so we prepared ourselves, and the
client, to take on the variance process.
Ultimately, we designed the project to include a series of retaining walls with a total height of approximately (15) vertical feet. The walls were clad with hand hewn, tight joint granite and capped with bluestone. Above these walls we integrated a custom gunite spa dimensioning 8’ x 14’ which was also finished with granite veneer and bluestone caps. We finished the spaces between the house and spa with mahogany decks set at three different elevations creating three unique spaces. The space off the family room will function as the dining area and so it was purposely designed to avoid the need of railings to maximize views to the lake. The mid-level deck serves the spa area and connects the dining deck and the third area, an outdoor covered living space off the interior dining room. At this location, we removed the existing windows and installed new French doors to open up access from the interior dining room to the new outdoor living space.
Focus your attention on the shape and angles of the of the new stone retaining walls and the spa. The design of this entire landscape mimics the 120 degree angle on the house at the kitchen bump-out. This architectural feature of the house is repeated on the shape of the decks, spa and walls. The creative use of this angle
made for a unique series of separate, but connected, entertaining spaces that all have spectacular views to Lake George and the mountains north of the property. You can appreciate this aspect of the design best in the drone footage and aerial photos.
BENEFITS/ LESSONS LEARNED
- The 120degree angle previously mentioned was particularly tricky to manage. It was critical that this angle be established correctly from the very beginning of construction. On paper it seems easy to establish a few points in the landscape that match the angle, but in reality, when you are trying to find these points about thirty feet horizontally from the house and twenty feet below the first floor of the house it is quiet challenging. We had to monitor this angle constantly though the construction of the walls, decks and spa to make sure the design came together as intended.
- During the construction of the decks we discovered severe rot on several locations of the house. Of course, we had to correct these deficiencies before proceeding with residing those areas.
- The initial design included a storm water retention area (large depression) whose purpose is to control water runoff from entering the lake. During construction, the clients decided that they di not like this look so we had to re-design and address the water run-off with control systems buried underground. This was a challenge due to the large volume of water and the large proportion of bedrock on the property. Ultimately, we resolved the issue and satisfied the owners by installing two different buried infiltrator systems.