Hutner Pool 
Chevy Chase, MD

Twenty years after we renovated our clients' 1950s Chevy Chase rambler, we were asked back to design their retirement present to themselves - a swimming pool and a screened porch. 

On this hilly site, the only flat ground dictated that the pool be located immediately behind the house. The result is a slender pool, running the full width of the house, with a terrace for sun at one end, and a screened porch for shade at the other. 

The screened porch is an exercise in dappled sun and carpentry. It is supported on steel legs which continue, partially clad in wood, to the roof, where corresponding beams cross over the top. These are exposed to view and make the roof a fifth facade, visible from the second story master bedroom. 

The facade facing the pool has two doors, one on each side of the pool terrace. In the center, a retractable screen opens the pavilion directly to the water, allowing the occupants to dive from the interior right into the pool.

Construction involved two pages of 11" X 17" working drawings and an extraordinary carpenter.