Located in a natural clearing on a wooded hillside of northwestern CT, this watering hole serves as an escape from the hecticness of urban life – a place to relax and unwind. A single 16 x 52 module contains a sleeping zone at one end and a kitchen / living zone on the other. Between them, a black-steel-clad core volume houses the bathroom, steam shower, laundry, storage, and fireplace. While this central volume does not touch any exterior walls, it is filled with natural light from a skylight above and through frosted glass pocket doors.

The interior space is passively cooled. In warmer months, the pool provides evaporative cooling. As breezes blow over the pool, water evaporates and cools the air. When the wall of sliding glass doors is opened, this cool air can move through the interior and out the operable clerstory windows on the opposite side, for cross ventilation with the help of ceiling fans.

The roof is designed to accommodate panels for solar hot water to heat not only the pool, but also the supplemental radiant heating system beneath the bamboo flooring, which is used on very cold days when the heat-generating fireplace is not enough to heat the interior space.

Exceeding LEED standards, the high-performance building envelope uses a flash-and-batt insulation system – this factory-friend detail combines spray-foam insulation with fiberglass batt insulation. With a tight building envelope, heat loss and gain is minimized to help maintain a comfortable interior temperature, reducing heating and cooling loads.