Wedging a pool house into a tight space

Sunset, June, 1993 by Peter O. Whiteley

ADD A BEDROOM TO SHELLY and Ray Kappe's poolside structure, and it would qualify as a full-fledged (albeit extremely slender) house. It includes all of the other basic house elements--kitchen, dining area, dressing room, and bathroom--as well as a sauna and a pool equipment room.

The building's attenuated triangular plan allows it to fit in a tight space between a lap pool, situated on the steep-sloped canyon lot's only suitably level site, and an angled property line. From a maximum width of 12 feet at one end, the pool house tapers to a point over its 63-foot length. Its tall, blank back wall of horizontal redwood siding screens views of the pool from the neighboring property.

Only the sauna and the pool equipment room have a real roof over them. The other rooms are covered by a sprawling cup-of-gold vine. The kitchen area is complete with a refrigerator and range, while the bathroom has a sink and toilet (a shower is located near the equipment room).

Design: Kappe Architects, Planners, Pacific Palisades, California.