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280 Park Ave Rooftop Pool Stone Feature Wall
We haven’t featured an Ivory Rock Panel project in a while, so I took a look at our project photo collection and came across this great rooftop pool project in New York City. It’s actually several years old, but I had a great time looking back and appreciating some of the unique details of this project, like the closely spaced outside and inside off angle miter cut corner. Some of our Norstone team lives in the Big Apple, and a bunch of us enjoying swimming for exercise and fun, so this great project is right up our alley.
The bulk of the stone is installed on a large feature wall abutting the short end of the pool. The Ivory color matches up nicely with the light neutral tones of the travertine pool coping, which create a nice contrast with the aqua blue of the pool. One of the nice features of a stacked stone wall like this is the noise deflection properties of the stone. Anyone that’s ever spent some time in an indoor pool knows how loud it can be with sound slapping off all the flat surfaces like the deck, windows, ceiling, and even the water which transmits sound exceptionally well. A highly textured product like ledge stone bounces sound waves off in many different directions, helping to diffuse the sound. The same reason why our stacked stone works well in concert halls is the same reason why it makes this room just a little quieter.
For an indoor rooftop pool, the architect did an excellent job incorporating natural light and taking advantage of the amazing views you get in this prime Manhattan location. From a design standpoint, the challenge on indoor pools is often how to de-sterilize the feel of the space where the hard surfaces of the deck and pool itself tend to dominate. The stacked stone feature wall is a great option as it’ll be incredibly durable and easier to maintain than a plain wall or window, but at the same time the ledge stone look brings in a surface with an outdoor/ natural feel to it. Indoor pools also often suffer from lack of natural light, many even are below ground with no natural light at all, making this surely a selling point for the residents of the building. The peaked glass ceiling above the pool keeps the sun in and weather out. And lastly, let’s not forget about the views of the Flatiron district and surrounding areas which give this space a distinctly New York feel, something you can’t say about every pool on the island.
As a stone company, the part of this installation that really catches our eye is the amazing job the installer has done through a section of half wall where the stone traverses an inside then outside corner in a small area, all at an off angle needing a miter cut. This knee wall, separating the pool from the stairway does a great job tying together and establishing a design them with the main stacked stone accent wall on the far side of the pool.
This next photo taken from a slightly different angle shows the difference between our finger jointed corner units, used to turn the outside 90 degree corner from the stairway and the previously mentioned off angle miter cut corners. Kudos to the installation team for a job well done with the mitered corners.
While not every pool has amazing views of the New York City skyline, pools are a great project to use stacked stone on. From the water line tile, to a raised beam water feature, to a knee wall flowing into an outdoor kitchen or lanai, stacked stone is a durable product that will stand up to the test of the harsh pool environment while also creating or adding to the natural feel that most pool design seeks to create. So whatever your latitude, or whether your pool is inside or outside, be sure to consider a natural stone product for your next pool project.
