Pool with a House Subverts Suburban Tradition in Granada
In 2024, Serrano + Baquero designed a house with an unconventional pool in Altos de la Zubia, Granada, Spain. The “Pool with a House” concept reverses the typical model, featuring a pool that encompasses the living space. This innovative approach provides varied water-related experiences, from submerged windows to elevated viewpoints, blurring the home’s boundaries and integrating the external landscape into the design.
Innovative house project subverts traditions
In Altos de la Zubia, Granada, Serrano + Baquero’s “Pool with a House” project offers an innovative vision of suburban life. The project, conceived in 2024, revolves around a central pool, which acts as both a focal point and a house. By inverting the traditional “house with a pool” layout, this project seamlessly integrates living spaces within the pool itself, allowing residents to be submerged and emerged into aquatic experiences.
A unique approach to integrating the pool and the house
The design cleverly links the sensations of each space to its relationship with water, offering diverse experiences. You can begin your journey by arriving at the house underwater, embarking on an ascending path where the rooms are positioned at various levels in relation to the pool’s water level. This allows for unique features, such as water windows overlooking a flooded courtyard, underwater skylights that illuminate the interior rooms and water-level windows that reflect sunlight and views.
The living room is slightly lowered, providing an intimate connection with the reflected landscape while sitting. Outdoor platforms at different altitudes offer another layer of involvement, culminating in a belvedere that provides a panoramic view over the flooded central courtyard.
Two Complementary Experiences: Submerging and Emerging
The pool invites various forms of direct interaction with the water – from a wet platform to a 90 cm deep flooded patio suitable for playing and walking. Additional features include an underwater seat for relaxation and observation, a beach-like entrance for gradual immersion in the deeper swimming area and the thrill of diving from the observation deck.
The pool’s design also allows residents to observe indoor activities through water windows, offering a continuous and engaging interaction between indoor and outdoor life. The water, along with its sound and interaction with the light, not only differentiates each space throughout the day, but also extends the boundaries of the house.
Blurring Boundaries with Landscape and Light
The design virtually incorporates the distant topography of the western horizon and Grenada into each room, depending on its situation. The result is a harmonious and aesthetically pleasing composition that celebrates the connection between architecture, water and the surrounding environment.
By reimagining the conventional “house with a pool”, this project brings a new paradigm that makes water a central element in everyday life, while highlighting the beauty of its natural surroundings. The combined experience of being above and below the water offers a unique lifestyle, blending architecture, nature and creativity into a unified living space that defies norms and inspires exploration.
Photography by Javier Callejas Architecture Photography
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