A Playful and Balanced Pool Design

Adults, as much as children, need a healthful rhythm—a balance of time for play and rest. Likewise, rhythm is a helpful element for outdoor living design. This Cherry Hill outdoor living project by Budd Pools & Spas is a good example. We call it “Playcation,” a custom-designed outdoor living retreat that provides coordinated spaces where play and relaxation are strategically placed. Adults and kids can play or relax, and they can enjoy either, or both. At the same time. Together or separately.

To make room for playing and resting in a family-friendly outdoor living environment, you need to plan carefully and creatively. It’s part of the art and science of good design, where opposites play together and create the balance that enhances everyone’s experience.

Time, balance, and rhythm

Just as we need to make time for balance, balance depends on timing. It’s timing that creates a discernible rhythm. Rhythm helps us keep the balance between exciting and peaceful elements. “People of every age need a balance of play and rest in their lives,” Chris Volk says. “We design for visual balance in every project because it’s part of the art and the science of living well at home.”

You may not notice the visual balance and rhythm that architects and landscape designers use to hold a plan’s elements together, but you feel it. You feel its rhythm in the same way you feel the rhythm a composer uses to hold music together. As with music, a design’s rhythm can change your mood. Medical science is discovering these rhythms in your environment impact mental and physical health.

Different families, different homes, different lifestyles

As Chris points out, “Balance has a different meaning for every family.” A family with no children, or grown children, may want the balance to lean toward quieter, more meditative activities, where a younger couple may choose a modern, child- and family-oriented space.

Others may be interested in training for a sport, swimming laps, rehab, or full-body pool workouts.¹

You can have balance with all of the above

Balance doesn’t have to be a matter of one element balanced against another. As in our “Playcation” project, families often want a balanced solution that provides options for multiple needs (and moods). Following are three examples of pool and outdoor living projects by Budd. Each is tuned to harmonize with the home’s unique architecture, landscape, and family lifestyles.

Woodlands Retreat

This is a large home in the Medford, N.J., woods that was rebuilt to create an indoor-outdoor retreat with a resort sensibility able to fulfill the entire family’s outdoor play and relaxation needs: fitness, wellness, gourmet cooking, entertaining, family gatherings, gardening, and childhood fun for adults and kids.

The Entertainer

These country homeowners in Buena, N.J., wanted a luxury outdoor living space where they can host large events on a grand scale. The pool has a swim-up bar with gourmet-level food service facilities, a dramatic spa, multiple entertainment spaces, and a landscaped lawn for larger events.

Mixed Doubles

This Media, Pa. home’s outdoor living project incorporates a two-level tennis and pool house. The lower level serves as a professional tennis court, and the upper level provides a spacious indoor-outdoor living area that overlooks the pool and spa.

A patio and deck connect the entire medley of tennis, swimming pool, and spa to the home. The days are filled with professional-level youth and adult training and recovery facilities for tennis and sports enthusiasts. The nights are filled with relaxing evenings in the spa, poolside, the pool house living area, or on the upper deck. The nighttime setting is enhanced with dramatic lighting that transforms the spa and pool water falling from its infinity edge. A dual-purpose fireplace warms the pool house and outdoor pool area. A fire table does the same for the deck and its outdoor dining area.

Find your outdoor living rhythm

For many, the home is the natural place for a family to create their own special spaces. If you are thinking about starting a new project, look into how people of any age develop better health and enjoy life more in spaces where movement and relaxation play well together. Consider how your family’s particular needs and your outdoor spaces could include play and rest. You can find more inspiration by viewing these well-balanced designs on our Featured Projects Page.