A Connecticut poolhouse by Roger Ferris + Partners (ferrisarch.com)Photo by Paúl Rivera.
The architect Roger Ferris is known for designing modern, statement-making homes. But his latest project, a waterfront poolhouse in Westport, Connecticut, is magnificently minimalist in form, its single story concealed beneath a verdant berm out of deference to the landscape. Save for the skylight that runs the length of its green roof, the building is hardly visible as you approach it. Even the entrance—a sloping lawn down to the front door, between two angled retaining walls—looks more like sculpture than structure.
A view of the structure from the waterfront reveals its single-story elevation.
Photo by Paúl Rivera.
“I just wanted this gentle rise, with as little of the building showing as possible,” Ferris recalls of the project, designed for Fiona Garland, an avid swimmer, and her husband, Andrew Bentley. “The poolhouse is something you should discover.” Inside, elegant concrete walls bookend a 75-foot-long pool and, on the other side of a barely-there glass partition, a generous living-dining room with a Grayson Perry tapestry. The latter room doubles as guest quarters thanks to a fold-down bed hidden behind Douglas-fir paneling. (Becky Goss of the local design store The Flat consulted on the other furnishings.) While the northern side of the floor plan, tucked into the earth, contains the kitchen, bath, and changing areas, the south-facing window wall offers breathtaking views of the Long Island Sound.
The pool is framed by window walls, Douglas fir paneling, and a tapestry by Grayson Perry.
Photo by Paúl Rivera.
The doorway leads to the changing areas, kitchen, and bathroom.
Paúl Rivera.
Garland, an art historian, and Bentley, a commodities trader turned graphic designer, had purchased the property intending to build their main house on it. But then they bought the lot next door, with a Shingle Style cottage that Ferris had designed for Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue. After approaching Ferris about making alterations to the residence, Garland and Bentley changed course, asking him to design a contemporary barn and poolhouse on their original plot instead.
An aluminum trellis casts dynamic shadows inside and out.
Photo by Paúl Rivera.
The poolhouse at dusk.
Phot by Paúl Rivera.
The couple wanted the poolhouse to be invisible from the main house, even resisting the prospect of a front door. “But Roger said that without a front door, the building would look like a bunker,” Bentley reflects. “He is so good that we knew even the choices we questioned would be right.” This was also the case with the terrace’s aluminum trellis, which he and Garland at first thought just a superfluous flourish. They have no regrets. “Now we have these fabulous shadows on the wall and pool,” says Bentley, comparing the effect to Frank Stella’s geometric abstractions. Swimming or not, the couple can’t keep away from the poolhouse. “I always thought of it as main living space,” notes Ferris. “The site is too spectacular not to treat it as a place to dwell.”
Inside, the structure is a study in spare forms and sophisticated materials.
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