POOL ART MAKES A SPLASH

HOTEL METROPOLE MONTE CARLO POOL -- KARL LAGERFELD

Haute Couture meets pool design at the Hotel Metropole Monte Carlo Odyssey space designed by Karl Lagerfeld.

The iconic fashion designer bestowed his chic glamour upon the pool and its surrounds with a poolside mural, featuring blowups of old black & white photographs printed on 18 glass panels, with scenes of the Greek coastline superimposed with images of fashion models, and scenes from Greek literature.

Odyssey features a "beach area" with sun loungers, lush gardens, and a sundeck overlooking the pool.

The Belle Epoque hotel is situated in the Carré d’Or, within walking distance of the Casino. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. Lagerfeld teamed up with master chef Joel Robuchon in designing the Robuchon Monte-Carlo, a 2 Michelin stars restaurant.

BAKER POOL -- JAMES TURRELL

Water does beautiful things with light… and light does beautiful things with water. “Baker Pool” is the epitome of both.

Designed by artist James Turrell, famous for his monumental light installations, “Baker Pool” was commissioned by Lisa & Richard Baker for the basement of their barn in Greenwich, CT. It made quite a splash on the art and architecture scene.

The barn, designed by architect Walt Smith, of Skidmore Owings and Merrill, features an open space on the main floor for entertaining. The basement, where the pool resides is another level of playground.

The pool is lined with LED lights, can change color, at the whim of the Bakers, to match mood and occasion. They simply select one of Turrell’s pre-programmed light colors and combinations  

The areas surrounding the pool glow with fiber optic cable from Martin Architectural.

The pool’s debut made a splash for another reason too. During its inaugural party, in 2008, a guest unwittingly walked from the barn’s main floor living area down the stairs and right into the water. Turrell fished her out.

Turrell’s first pool installation, built for a French cultural center, invited swimmers to dive under a shaft to view another Turrell installation, one of his iconic skyscapes.

“My work is more about your seeing than it is about my seeing, although it is a product of my seeing. I’m also interested in the sense of presence of space; that is space where you feel a presence, almost an entity — that physical feeling and power that space can give.”

Turrell’s “Agua de Luz” series of Skyspaces and Pools is constructed inside a pyramid in the Yucatán.

See more James Turrell works in The Art of Orange Light Now.

“My work is more about your seeing than it is about my seeing, although it is a product of my seeing. I’m also interested in the sense of presence of space; that is space where you feel a presence, almost an entity — that physical feeling and power that space can give.”

Turrell’s “Agua de Luz” series of Skyspaces and Pools is constructed inside a pyramid in the Yucatán.

See more James Turrell works in The Art of Orange Light Now.

ROOSEVELT HOTEL POOL -- DAVID HOCKNEY

Artist David Hockney is known for his paintings of swimming pools. His iconic pool images are bright, clear colored, with stylized water ripple patterns.

Hockney’s fascination with pools led him to pursue turning some of them into works of art in their own right. He painted the pools themselves.

We love the Hockney pool at Hollywood’s Roosevelt Hotel. He painted the bottom with his patterned ripples in 1988. When overzealous local officials attempted to remove the painting, citing potential safety hazards, they changed their minds once they were told they would be obliterating a work of art valued at about $1 million at the time. Fortunately, the beautiful Hockney pool remains.

Read more about Beautiful Water H2O in Make a Beautiful Splash in Texas.

And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Mind/Body, Soul/Impact, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Arts/Design, and Place/Time, Daily Fix posts.

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IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: Courtesy of The Hôtel Metropole Monte-Carlo. Karl Lagerfeld at The Odyssey Pool at Spa Metropole by Givenchy. Monte-Carlo.
2. Image: Courtesy of The Hôtel Metropole Monte-Carlo. Karl Lagerfeld at The Odyssey Pool at Spa Metropole by Givenchy. Monte-Carlo.
3. Image: Courtesy of The Hôtel Metropole Monte-Carlo. The Odyssey Pool at Spa Metropole by Givenchy. Monte-Carlo.
4. Image: Courtesy of The Hôtel Metropole Monte-Carlo. The Odyssey Pool at Spa Metropole by Givenchy. Monte-Carlo.
5. Image: by Giffen Clark Ott. Untitled. The Baker Pool, designed by James Turrell. Greenwich, CT.
6. Image: by Giffen Clark Ott. Untitled. The Baker Pool, designed by James Turrell. Greenwich, CT.
7. Image: by Giffen Clark Ott. Untitled. The Baker Pool, designed by James Turrell. Greenwich, CT.
8. Image: by Giffen Clark Ott. Untitled. The Baker Pool, designed by James Turrell. Greenwich, CT.
9. Image: by Giffen Clark Ott. Untitled. The Baker Pool, designed by James Turrell. Greenwich, CT.
10. Image: by Giffen Clark Ott. Untitled. The Baker Pool, designed by James Turrell. Greenwich, CT.
11. Image: by @bellaanddonna. The Hockney Pool at the Roosevelt Hotel. Designed and created by David Hockney. West Hollywood, CA.
12. Image: by @hugofromkamakura. Hugo in the Hockney Pool at the Roosevelt Hotel. Designed and created by David Hockney. West Hollywood, CA.
13. Image: by @hugofromkamakura. The Hockney Pool at the Roosevelt Hotel. Designed and created by David Hockney. West Hollywood, CA.
14. Image: Courtesy of Martin. “The Baker Pool,” designed by James Turrell. Greenwich, CT.
15. Image: by BN App - Download now!
16. Image: by Giffen Clark Ott. Untitled. The Baker Pool, designed by James Turrell. Greenwich, CT.