Soak Zone

The Rancho Mirage client requested an environmentally friendly house and, in the same breath, a 25-yard junior Olympic-size pool for his daily 132-lap swim. “What he was really asking for was not to design a house with a pool,” says Palm Springs architect Ana Escalante, “but a pool with a house.”

In addition to concerns that the large pool would dwarf the site, Escalante had to comply with strict local building codes limiting homes to a 20-foot height. Another challenge presented itself in the steep hillside lot. “Nearly half of it was unbuildable,” she recalls. And then there would be the client’s stratospheric costs for the pool’s heating, cooling and maintenance. Says Escalante, “I knew we had to come up with a nontraditional home.”

When she took her two daughters to SeaWorld and saw the underwater viewing tank that showcases Shamu, her idea-bulb lit up. By using the slope and sinking the pool and home’s public areas (living room, kitchen, powder room and guest room) 4 feet into the ground, with bedroom suites above, she could meet both the height requirement and accommodate the 75-foot pool so that it did not overwhelm the house.

Today, guests enter the front door and gaze directly into a dramatic 5-by-6-foot window of turquoise water that resembles a blue color-field painting. Occasionally, a bather swims into the frame, breaking the artful illusion. Eight more openings of varying sizes perforate what appears to be the common wall between the pool and the living room, although each is an independent structure. The shadowbox-like windows give the living room the appearance of a large aquarium where Shamu--or at least a baby Shamu--might float by at any moment. “It’s designed so that in a number 8 earthquake, the water is not going to break through into the living room,” Escalante says reassuringly.

Other good news: Ten solar panels over the garage help to heat the pool, while 116 photovoltaic panels artfully integrated into the roof provide more than 90% of the client’s home heating and cooling. Energy costs last year totaled $1,530. The client’s neighbor paid nearly $3,000 for one month--and he doesn’t have a pool big enough for a baby whale.

*

Water Feature

25-YARD JUNIOR OLYMPIC POOL

Architect: Escalante Architects, Palm Springs, (760) 323-1925.

Conceit: Pool as human aquarium.

Sustainability: “Ten solar water panels on the garage supply all the pool’s heating needs; the second-floor bridge shades the pool, reducing heat intake and evaporation.”--Ana Escalante

Water audio: “There’s no sound--just a quiet, watery world.”--A.E.