Sure, a rooftop infinity pool looks amazing. Who wouldn’t want to take a dip while taking in the New York City skyline? But summer is fleeting, so designers are bringing the glamour inside, transforming what was once a dreary afterthought of the fitness center—the lowly lap pool—into a showstopping destination.
“The ultimate luxury for New York City is a swimming pool,” says Ryan Korban, who designed the interiors for the NoHo condo 40 Bleecker, including the 58-foot long saltwater pool.
Swimming indoors sounds lovely until you actually have to take a windowless, subterranean space and turn it into something amazing, not austere. Materials must exude luxury, but be hardy enough to withstand a damp atmosphere and harsh chemicals like chlorine. And in a condo where serious swimmers may share the water with splashing toddlers, the space needs to have a broad appeal, all while staying in character with a luxury building.
For the pool at 40 Bleecker, a 12-story boutique development opening next year, Korban wanted residents to feel as though they were outside, even if they were below ground. To achieve that, he went with a warm, neutral color palette using limestone and custom-made terrazzo. No sun? No matter. A sculptural bronze light box hovering above the pool glows like a skylight. “What I really wanted was the idea of a sense of light,” he says.
Seating tucked into spotlit niches evoke a backyard pool environment while light from in-ground luminaires and wall sconces plays off swirling Venetian plaster for "an underwater vibe,” Korban says. “The pool is really its own universe; it’s really a cocoon.”
If you’re lucky enough to have natural light (after all, there’s no rule that says you have to banish the pool to the basement) you can play with views and privacy. The 60-foot long pool at 100 East 53rd Street, a 63-story condo in Midtown, is on the third floor, with a bank of windows overlooking the streetscape. The views offer “a connection with the natural rhythms of the city with the movement of light and shadows throughout the day,” says Peter Han, a partner at Foster + Partners, which designed the condo that opened in January. Integrated vertical louvers provide swimmers privacy and shade.
Rather than set the pool off in a distant corner, this one is interwoven into the common areas \—visible from the granite staircase and the fitness center, and part of a larger amenities package that includes a sauna, steam and treatment rooms, a children’s play area, and a curated library. “Pools must adapt to satisfy the ever-growing needs of the occupants,” Han says. “The design must be flexible.”
For a statement tower, like Rose Hill, a condo in NoMad that will open next year, your pool has to stand out too. The 45-story building, developed by the Rockefeller Group, the 91-year-old real-estate company that built Rockefeller Center, is a nod to Art Deco New York, with a bronze-tone façade and a lobby with a black marble fireplace, walnut paneling, and handcrafted metalwork. The 50-foot pool is just as sultry, with deep turquoise tiles, handmade in Vermont, and a mosaic of a woman swimming, surrounded by sunrays, a nod to Rockefeller Center.
A pool “is not just a simple space,” says Ximena Rodriguez, the director of interior design for CetraRuddy, which designed the building and interiors. “You have to carry the essence of the interior design into the pool; it has to feel like it belongs.”
