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Room of the Week: A Cutting-edge Gym Pavilion in the Grounds of a Manor
A cutting-edge yet peaceful leisure complex in glass and cedar cladding contrasts beautifully with an old Cotswolds stone country house
If your client has a background in precision engineering – think Formula One – and they ask for something clean, sleek and contemporary, you know you’re going to have to deliver. Set in the (4 acre) grounds of a Cotswolds manor house, this carefully planned leisure building features sharp lines and cutting-edge design, adding a further architectural dimension to that of the main house.
Houzz at a Glance
Location The Cotswolds
Architect Andrew Inchley of Yiangou Architects
Date completed Summer 2013
Houzz at a Glance
Location The Cotswolds
Architect Andrew Inchley of Yiangou Architects
Date completed Summer 2013
The leisure pavilion took around a year to complete. Andrew decided to make the building contemporary, to mirror its use. ‘It’s not a traditional feature, so we wanted something a bit more of the moment,’ he says.
The swimming pool area is peaceful and light-filled. ‘The whole idea was to create a quiet, contemplative space,’ Andrew says. ‘I wanted to create the illusion the roof is floating.’ To do this, he designed two curved sections that never seem to touch the pitch of the roof. ‘It’s a highly polished Venetian plaster with flecks of marble, so it has a sheen and lots of light reflection,’ he says.
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The swimming pool area is peaceful and light-filled. ‘The whole idea was to create a quiet, contemplative space,’ Andrew says. ‘I wanted to create the illusion the roof is floating.’ To do this, he designed two curved sections that never seem to touch the pitch of the roof. ‘It’s a highly polished Venetian plaster with flecks of marble, so it has a sheen and lots of light reflection,’ he says.
Browse more beautiful pools
The area the pool building occupies was previously overgrown garden. As the structure stands in contrast to the architectural vernacular of the main house, Andrew was careful to ensure there was a sense of transition and of gentle change by the careful use of exterior materials.
The building on the left houses the gym, sauna, changing areas, and a 1 bed, 1 bath flat upstairs. It’s closest to the old house and the facade that’s visible from the house has deliberately been built in Cotswolds stone reclaimed from the site.
The opposite wall of the same building marks the next stage of transition in cedar cladding with a glass cutout. The pool building is on the right and completes the transition with glass walls and hit and miss cladding to echo its neighbour.
The building on the left houses the gym, sauna, changing areas, and a 1 bed, 1 bath flat upstairs. It’s closest to the old house and the facade that’s visible from the house has deliberately been built in Cotswolds stone reclaimed from the site.
The opposite wall of the same building marks the next stage of transition in cedar cladding with a glass cutout. The pool building is on the right and completes the transition with glass walls and hit and miss cladding to echo its neighbour.
‘This is the changing area,’ explains Andrew, ‘although not much changing goes on here. The changing rooms are off through the door to the right of the TV,’ he adds.
The sofas and TV make it an area for relaxing and recuperating after a tough gym session in the room seen here to the left of the TV. Built-in storage conceals a drinks fridge under the left-hand bank of shelves, and various audiovisual equipment underneath the television.
A sound system on the left-hand bank of shelves connects to the entire pavilion, pool included, and all of the lights can be centrally controlled from here, too.
See ways to bring spa style into your home
The sofas and TV make it an area for relaxing and recuperating after a tough gym session in the room seen here to the left of the TV. Built-in storage conceals a drinks fridge under the left-hand bank of shelves, and various audiovisual equipment underneath the television.
A sound system on the left-hand bank of shelves connects to the entire pavilion, pool included, and all of the lights can be centrally controlled from here, too.
See ways to bring spa style into your home
The cedar cladding of the gym building can be seen on the left here, with the hit and miss cladding on the right. ‘The idea is that in time the wood will fade and turn silvery to tie in with the textures and greys of the stone and ceiling,’ says Andrew.
To connect the two spaces without compromising their integrity, Andrew connected them via a glass walkway that’s barely visible. On the other side of the walkway is the courtyard, and garage doors are visible beyond.
To connect the two spaces without compromising their integrity, Andrew connected them via a glass walkway that’s barely visible. On the other side of the walkway is the courtyard, and garage doors are visible beyond.
Andrew chose to use the spaced-out cedar cladding at this side of the building to make it an easy transition from one material to the next. Rather than moving from full cladding to pure glass, this hit and miss effect completes the transition.
From the dominant structure of the main house, through to the wood and on to the glass, the buildings take similar forms but are treated differently. The same thick Chesterton stone is used in the pool area, walkway and exterior courtyard to give a feeling of continuity and a link between the interior and exterior.
From the dominant structure of the main house, through to the wood and on to the glass, the buildings take similar forms but are treated differently. The same thick Chesterton stone is used in the pool area, walkway and exterior courtyard to give a feeling of continuity and a link between the interior and exterior.
As you transition through the glass corridor into the swimming pool area, LED strip lighting in the recess ‘creates the feeling there’s the sky above you’, and the curves give it an almost cloud-like resemblance. Andrew was careful to ensure the integrity of the room wasn’t compromised, so hid everything, from the recessed strip lighting to speakers within the plaster of the ceiling to even the ventilation grilles (hidden in a very narrow slot in the joint between the stone floor slabs).
To tie in with the contemplative and restful ambience of the room, the pool needed to seem quite natural. Andrew shied away from artificial turquoises and opted instead for dark ceramic tiles that looks like slate, which makes the pool appear almost bottomless. Sporadic LED spotlighting at the water level gives a gentle illumination. ‘People almost glow among the dark water at night,’ says Andrew.
To tie in with the contemplative and restful ambience of the room, the pool needed to seem quite natural. Andrew shied away from artificial turquoises and opted instead for dark ceramic tiles that looks like slate, which makes the pool appear almost bottomless. Sporadic LED spotlighting at the water level gives a gentle illumination. ‘People almost glow among the dark water at night,’ says Andrew.
A garden to the side of the pool has a decidedly Japanese feel. The interior-exterior link is drawn once again here through the use of water both inside and out. The glass doors of the pool open out entirely, enhancing this effect, and the path of the water creates the illusion it runs into the pool.
Andrew worked with landscape designer Jacquie Gordon on the exterior part of the project. The raised beds host herbs to be used for cooking, adding functionality to the mix. On the opposite side of the pool is the courtyard, with garages to the right.
Andrew worked with landscape designer Jacquie Gordon on the exterior part of the project. The raised beds host herbs to be used for cooking, adding functionality to the mix. On the opposite side of the pool is the courtyard, with garages to the right.
The transition in architectural style down from the main house through to the pool pavilion mirrors the changing uses of the space, embodying the relationship between form and function.
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TELL US…
What do you think of this spa-style space? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.
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‘We cut back the trees and foliage, and all of the chimneys had to be rebuilt,’ says Andrew. ‘Then we reordered the rooms inside the main house.’ There are now five bedrooms with en suites in the old manor house. Phase two of the project was the leisure pavilion, seen here to the left of the main house.