The Process
The concept started off as an idea to keep the building under the height of the live oak trees much like the residential houses are in the historic district of Savannah. I sketched this as just a detail that I wanted to include but soon became the starting point to the final idea.
Once I knew the concept of the circles representing the canopy of the trees, I decided to see of there was a way to fit these into a floorplan. The diameter of the circle ranged and coorelated with the heirarchy of the spaces, the promary spaces with the largest ones, being the pool deck, and the secondary spaces with the smaller ones, being the bathrooms, mechanical spaces, etc.
Building a model of just the circles helped to find the layout within these tree like structures and trying to make spaces rectangular was not working out so the model helped to 3D visualize the space.
Once the floorplan was figured out, I then went on to build a 1/4”=1’ scale model of one of the structural bays to understand the actual scale of these systems. This was when I started to design the shape of the glulam column that curves into the beams to support the CLT panel roof. Creating the gentle curve into the beam follows the same language as the rest of the building with a more organic language.
Materiality
Wood was used throughout the design as the Glulam and the CLT panels because they have high strength. This was chosen because of the high strength and because it makes the space warmer and more welcoming compared to a cold steel beam.
To complement the wood used in the structure, rammed earth was used for the walls to enhance the warm and welcoming environment.
After building the model, I allowed for the floorplan to flow with the overhead circles rather than fight them with the shape corners of a boxy floorplan.
The Live Oaks Pool
The Live Oaks Pool draws inspiration from well-known live oak trees around the city of Savannah, Georgia. Replacing the current Daffin park outdoor pool, this structure creates a connection between nature and the buildings intended function. The main structure shape derives from the dominating shape of the live oaks trunk base and long reaching branches. Curved glulam beams starting at ground floor forming the trunk, reaches up, and branches out to support a CLT canopy creating a series of roof planes. Between the built trees are a combination of rammed earth and multi-paned glass.
IDA 2024 Silver in Architecture Project Development
Site Location
Daffin Park, Savannah GA
Year
Spring 2024
