Project Name: AJ House

Location: Arif Jan Road, Lahore

Date Completed: Aoril 2016

Architect: Attiq Uddin Ahmed

Interior Designer: Attiq Uddin Ahmed

Construction Company: Psk Hydraulics

This project involved a residential swimming pool for a house in Lahore, Pakistan. AEDL had to fit in a long entrance courtyard with a step foundation on one side and lounges on the other. The design for the pool uses the foundation to make an edge to edge seating bench in the pool and it has a depth ranging from 4’ to 8’ in a 35 feet span. The pool uses white glass mosaic tiles that change colour with ambient light throughout the day.

A gold leaf mosaic tile wall completes the surface cladding inside the volume. This cladding covers the entire surface of the seating bench. The pool is edged on the outside with Burma teak marble and is under a retractable glass roof and sliding windows sections on one side. The walls of the pool are clad in a white marble mosaic and the pool is separated from its stone surround by a water channel that acts both as a drain as well as an acoustics generator.

Rooms around the pool are designed to serve as poolside lounges and an air corridor has been designed by using the shape of the pool shed and aligning openings to prevalent summer breeze. The pool is heated and has a fireplace to one side, the glass roof brings in ample light and the passive cooling in the room allows for dispersal of heat mass. De-humidification in the pool area is achieved through active electrical means and the pool uses an ionizer to avoid a chlorine smell in the interior.

AEDL’s favourite aspect of the project is the retractable roof over the pool and large window openings that give the pool an indoor / outdoor feel. The designers believe that project works so well because the design makes use of the house foundation enlivening a long courtyard. The proportions of the pool are such that it allows views of the garden and sky above and sliding casements allow parallel rooms to become poolside lounges.