CHAIN10 || Three Breathtaking Pools Perfect for Summer that Promote Health and Wellness
As heat waves sweep through various parts of the world from Western Europe to the West Coast of North America, now seems like the time for some pool inspiration to take a much-needed refreshing dip in the water.
Chain10, a Taiwanese architecture and design firm, shares three breathtaking pools that will make you want to hop in your car and head to the closest pool near you. While these pools offer refuge from the summer heat, Chain10 also designs these landscape features to promote health and wellness.
Adding these seemingly passive spaces has tangible wellness benefits and helps create spaces to connect people with their environments. The pools below demonstrate how landscape pools add more to a building than initially meets the eye.
Biophilic Design Connecting Residents with Nature
By virtue of creating a communal space outside, pools increase biophilia, which is the human instinct to connect with one's surrounding environment. The Green Places Community Clubhouse, designed as a gathering space for residents of the Tainan community, provides opportunities for dining, reading, exercising, learning, sharing, and communication.
With its use of eco-friendly and recyclable materials, renewable solar power, and natural light, the project is based on natural patterns and incorporates the idea of a harmonious environment where human life can connect with nature through features like a reflecting pond, outdoor plaza, and broad views of nearby hillsides. This biophilic design is reinforced with the pool and spa, a space that invites guests to spend time both with one another and with nature. The outdoor area also faces a group of trees, which moderate the temperature on cooler winter mornings, but still allow sunlight to warm the area in the hotter months.
Green Places Community Clubhouse (Tainan City, Taiwan)
Passive Temperature Reduction
Landscape pools also passively reduce temperature, providing a more comfortable environment in the hot summer heat. Midsummer Dwelling, as the name suggests, is homemade, especially for the warmer months. Located in Xiamen, China, this project was designed to be suitable for a family with cooling properties to offset the natural heat in that region. By including a landscape pool, Chain10 creates a temperature reduction system so that residents may enjoy the outdoor space in comfort, even on the warmest days of the year. The Midsummer Dwelling pool also assists the terrace in shading the areas below.
Midsummer Dwelling (Xiamen, China)
Reducing Air Pollutants
Pools decrease amounts of PM2.5 in the surrounding air, an air pollutant that can cause respiratory problems. GASEA - The Cliff House, an aptly named project, directly faces the Pacific Cliff and provides a magnificent sea view. However, Chain10 did not stop there when it came to connecting the project with its natural surroundings. The project will use various kinds of glass in an effort to draw in as much natural sunlight as possible.
Several trees were also planted near the building to further emphasize the idea of being in a secluded forest. Inside the home, a large atrium connects the first and second floors and challenges the typical outlook and closed floors of many modern architecture projects. As for the pool, it is located on the ground floor and faces east towards the sea, allowing residents to bask in the sunlight while enjoying a private, breathtaking view.
The pool's passive properties allow residents to enjoy as much time outside as possible while being shielded from air pollutants. Specifically, pools decrease amounts of PM2.5, and as such protect the health and wellness of residents.
GASEA - The Cliff House (Taitung City, Taiwan)
The three pools are outstanding examples of how landscape pools are more than just a design feature, especially during a time when the changing weather patterns bring unexpected heat waves throughout the year. Connecting with nature in your residence, passively reduce temperature, and reducing air pollutants are just some of the many benefits of living close to water.
