fairview
Raleigh, NC
POOL & OUTDOOR PAVILION
When I was deciding which college to attend, it never occurred to me that I could study something like design. I didnt take many art classes in high school and I didnt have a portfolio of work. However, when I look back, there were so many signs that I was meant to be a designer, things that I thought were normal childhood games and habits. During recess, when my friends wanted to play house, I would drag a stick thru the dirt, creating a floor plan. Each friend would be given their own room off of a central hallway. Only after room assignments would we choose our names and begin the plot line of the day.
For this project, digging in the dirt was also required in order for it to be realized. The program consists of a new pool, hot tub/spa, and pavilion with a kitchen, bathroom/locker room, and lounge area with an outdoor fireplace. Locating the project on its steeply sloping site became a multi-disciplinary approach, working with the landscape designer, civil and structural engineers. For both practical and aesthetic reasons, the design evolved into a series of formal terraced gardens. “Stamping” the site with graduated plinths provided a level foundation for the pool and pavilion. In keeping with the classical style of the home, a formal landscape design establishes distinct programmatic zones with controlled symmetry, reminiscent of European neoclassical gardens.
Status: Schematic Design
Landscape Designer: Chip Callaway
Site Plan
design process
The design of the new pool pavilion draws inspiration from both the classical principles of architectural proportion and the distinctive designs of European pavilions and orangeries. The application of the Golden Ratio, a mathematical principle championed by Andrea Palladio to achieve aesthetic balance, informs the pavilion’s proportions, creating a structure that is visually pleasing and harmonious with the surrounding landscape.
Orangery, Sledmore House, Yorkshire
French Pavilion
Palladian Compositional Proportions
Front Elevation
(hover over image)
A dedicated lounge and dining area is located in the central portion of the pavilion. An outdoor kitchen and locker room symmetrically flank either side.
integrated landscape
The design of the landscape, in harmony with the classical Georgian style of the home, takes inspiration from historical precedents of French neoclassical designs. The garden is divided into programmatic zones, including a parterre walled garden, reinforcing a sense of order and control over nature. The pool pavilion sits on an elevated plinth, creating a formal transition between the structured garden spaces and patio. A minimalist pool cuts through the patio, its rectilinear shape reinforcing the primary axis of the landscape. The hot tub —elevated from the patio—also functions as a reflective pool, playing with the additive and subtractive relationship of the two bodies of water. Beyond, the controlled setting of the pool area gives way to a more naturalistic environment. This carefully planned transition leads to a retaining pond and natural pool with water filtration, culminating in a grotto that evokes the picturesque aesthetic, where formal design seamlessly merges with untamed nature.
Pavilion Frais, Versailles. A central pavilion flanked by two water features, pools, terraced gardens
The Leasowes, England. The formal garden gives way to the Picturesque. The etching above depicts a naturalistic environment in the foreground, with ruins and untamed gardens. One of the first built examples of the Picturesque movement.
Site Diagram
design details
modern pool juxtaposed against classical formal garden
Formality gradually breaks down, transforming into a more natural and primitive garden.
A grotto further enhances the picturesque aesthetic, offering a secluded element that contrasts with the formal garden’s controlled symmetry, creating an interplay between man-made order and natural beauty.