Editorial Contacts
Jim Austin - 715-323-3588
Managing Director, Targeted Content Inc.
Mike Schweiss - 507-426-8273
Owner, Schweiss Doors
To download immediately, right-click on the picture and choose "Save Target As..." or "Save Image As..." In most browsers you can also left-click to view the full-size image and then right-click on the larger picture and click "Save Picture As..." or "Save Image As..."
Images (from top left): PoolHouse1.jpg; PoolHouse2.jpg; PoolHouse3.jpg; PoolHouse4.jpg; PoolHouse5.jpg.jpg; PoolHouse6.jpg; PoolHouse7.jpg; PoolHouse8.jpg
American Dream pool house has glass, mahogany door
Schweiss Doors provides family with 34-foot custom-designed bifold door
HECTOR, Minn., Jan. 2, 2025 – It doesn’t really matter at all if the sun is shining or not. Having a 2,000-square-foot pool house at home makes any day inviting for a quick dip or hours spent with family.
Designed by Gauthier Architects of Brooklyn, N.Y., and built in upstate Accord, N.Y., nearly the entire sidewall of the pool house is a Schweiss Doors bifold double-glazed glass designer door, measuring 34 feet, 4 inches wide by 13 feet tall. It has an automatic latch system, electric photo eye sensors and black liftstraps. The glazed designer door, trimmed with neoprene and mahogany, offers a pleasant view of the wooded area outside the pool house. The steel is coated with a rust-retardant enamel oil base paint.
“Built jointly for a family originally from the Czech Republic and India, the pool house is part of their American Dream,” says Doug Gauthier, principal architect. “They have named it the ‘Gray Niva-Natatorium,’ which is a proper architectural term for a pool house. The homeowners have been using the door for months and absolutely love it. They like the ‘muscle of the machine’ – the motors and the steel. It’s kind of cool, sort of an industrial pool house look. The pool house is a year-round play, swim, exercise and recreational sanctuary.”
This super-insulated, hydronic, geothermal pool house, originally designed as a concrete structure with a roof of glulam diagrid and structurally insulated panel, has been re-imagined and built using industrial construction materials. Structurally insulated panels over steel joists and decking with corrugated galvannealed siding are supported with triple-galvanized steel stud construction. This industrial chassis is then brought to life with limited finish materials of rough-cut 18-inch by 30-inch bluestone flooring, marine-grade teak wall panels, raw porcelain 1-inch hexagonal tiled walls and a ceiling of exposed steel work finished with baby blue epoxy paint.
Facing south, the bifold door brings warm winter sunlight deep into the space, while in warmer months, the door opens to provide a canopy and extended space into the landscape. Additional light is provided with large ellipse skylights over the pool and spa.
“In the winter, the pool house is kept at 85 degrees,” Gauthier says. “It’s a full geothermal hydronic project that heats and cools the pool house and the pool. Then it’s got a sophisticated reclaiming hydronic dehumidifying mechanical system that sucks all the moist hot evaporating air and puts it back in the pool to heat it.
Other exterior amenities include a seating area around the corner to the right of the teak-covered wall with a span and window. Inside the tall beige tile wall is a bathroom and changing area with a small entrance door and a larger teak wall and equipment door that opens to where the geothermal and pool equipment is stored.
Programmatically, the pool is served by a reticulated exchange entrance, east terrace, changing room, bench seating, spa, steel wood-burning grill, double interior showers and an exterior gathering and meeting space looking out onto the field that slopes into an aerated swimming pond on the property.
An outside corrugated galvanized panel wall was constructed just to the left of the bifold door and galvanized panels surround the rest of the glass bifold door. The wall is an extension of the rear wall that makes the terrace more spatial and more like a room when the door is open.
The pool house is situated about 300 feet from the owners’ new 4,000-square-foot home, on 35 acres. It has concrete walls with a Structural Insulated Panel (SIP) roof. Structural insulated panels are high-performance building panels used in floors, walls and roofs for residential and light commercial buildings. The panels are made by sandwiching a core of rigid foam plastic insulation between two structural facings, such as oriented strand board (OSB). The pool house is super-insulated to about R-50 on the roof and walls. The walls are spray-foam insulated. Its steel constructed and the roof slants from 21 feet to 10 feet.
Gauthier says he went back and forth on his decision to use a bifold or a hydraulic one-piece door on this project. Because it is a high wind area, he decided to choose the Schweiss bifold door. He was familiar with the bifold design, having used it on a couple of other projects. He said he didn’t contact any other door companies to compare products.
“I wouldn’t bother with anyone else,” he said. “You know what you are getting, you know the delivery cost and it shows up on time, not a day early. The Schweiss Doors ordering process is the easy part, the infrastructure we use on the door is really wonderful. The expensive part is building the mounting frame to hold it up and putting the skin on it.”
Others who worked on the project included:
Project Architects: Randy Armas, Michael Hoehn, Mel Loyola Agosto, Christopher Tomasetti
Counseling Engineers: Buro Happold Cristobal Correa, Ana Serra
Landscape Architect: Hoffmann-Brandt Projects
Construction Manager: John Gates
Construction Team: Build Green SIPs; Geothermal Options; MJS Electric; Day Heating & Plumbing; Wadell Construction; Smith Construction; AJS Masonry; Millennium Steel Fabrication; Fall Fittings Steel; Buena Vista Masons; Poughkeepsie Custom Woodworks; European Décor; Schweiss Doors, Standard Glass; Apuzzo Kitchens
About Schweiss Doors
Schweiss Doors is the premier manufacturer of hydraulic and bifold liftstrap doors. Doors are custom made to any size for any type of new or existing building for architects and builders determined to do amazing things with their buildings, including the doors. Schweiss also offers a cable to liftstrap conversion package. For more information, visit www.bifold.com.
Photo Captions:
PoolHouse1: Taking up nearly the entire south sidewall of this Accord, N.Y., pool house is a Schweiss Doors bifold double-glazed glass designer door that extends 34 feet, 4 inches wide and 13 feet tall. It is clad with glass and trimmed with mahogany on the outside. (Amy Barkow Photography)
PoolHouse2: The pool measures 11 feet by 30 feet and is 5 feet deep. The geothermal hydronic system heats and cools the pool house. A sophisticated reclaiming hydronic dehumidifying mechanical system also sucks up all the moist hot evaporating air and puts it back in the pool to heat it. (Amy Barkow Photography)
PoolHouse3: The 2,000 square foot pool house has a large woodburning stove, grill and hammock outside. Inside is a teak covered wall with a spa and window, a bathroom and changing area. Three thousand square feet of raw one-inch porcelain tile surround the exterior and the interior of the pool house. (Amy Barkow Photography)
PoolHouse4: This area of upstate New York is known as an outdoor recreational area. The bifold glass designer door offers a nice view of the wooded landscape. The dark trim on the outside of the glass-clad door is mahogany. Due to the high humidity inside the pool house, the steel doorframe was painted with a rust-retardant enamel oil base paint. (Architectural photos by Naho Kubota)
PoolHouse5: An outside corrugated galvanized panel wall was constructed just to the left of the bifold door. The wall is an extension of the rear wall that makes the terrace more spatial and more like a room when the door is open. (Amy Barkow Photography)
PoolHouse6: The 35-acre site has an outdoor aerated swimming pond. The 4,000 square foot home is just a short distance from the detached pool house. (Architectural photos by Naho Kubota)
PoolHouse7: The pool house is a popular year-round place, day and night. During the winter, the pool is kept at a comfortable 85 degrees. It’s a full geothermal hydronic project that heats and cools the pool house and pool. (Architectural photos by Naho Kubota)
PoolHouse8: Extensive landscaping was done around the new home. The walkway shown in the foreground leads to the owner’s new home about 300 feet away. (Architectural photos by Naho Kubota)