The Black Mirror: Design Insights

In the Ridges of Summerlin, it’s no easy task to create something that architecturally speaks to the echelon of design expected for this community. Mediocre or generic pool and landscape designs are an incongruous presence. In addition, this yard was uniquely shaped to say the least.

The classic “pie-shape” lot that perplexes many designers.

As an avid art collector with a carefully curated home, the client wanted something truly unique and inspiring that would encompass all their detailed effort to make the inside stunning. My work was cut out for me. Here’s how I did it;

Using my holistic exterior design approach, I found it best not to fight the angles, but to flow with them seamlessly. With the pool parallel to the back wall using the “Baroque Angle” often used in architecture and art, it allows your eyes to glide smoothly into the backyard from inside the home, circulate along that angle to appreciate the poolscape and supporting landscape background, and use the unique yard shape to our advantage, maximizing the client’s real estate. 

Notice how your eye naturally falls into the image and circulates around the canvas.

On the contrary, tension is created when the angle is flipped to the “Sinister diagonal”. It feels like your eye is crashing into objects.

To avoid disrupting that indoor-outdoor living flow, the custom zero-edge infinity spa is parallel to the house so as not to look crooked or compete with the comparatively larger-scale home, setting the tone for the secondary angle.

With the spa raised just 6” above the custom landscape edge detail, it allows the spa to appear to be seamlessly emerging from the pool and surrounding rock, sticking to our sleek, modern, and streamlined design theme. 

Notice how the spa reflects the trees in the background, inviting them closer to you despite being in the background. A pool can be a mirror, and it’s imperative to consider the design of all the outside elements.

Unfortunately, this is often forgotten with many pool designs of today.

We also wanted to avoid the common design mistake of not leaving room for landscape to breathe and complement the pool, while balancing the right amount of specially treated acid-etch decking. 

Striking a balance is what separates average yards, from exceptional ones.

With those principles in mind, I carefully proportioned the space from every angle to allow the zero-edge poolscape to be the balanced canvas, and the mirror to reflect the surrounding beauty of the client’s landscape design elements and custom-painted orbs seamlessly as one… harmonious work of art. 

If you’d like to see more about this one-of-one project, you can learn more here.

Or, if you’d like to explore creating your own work of art, let’s start the conversation.