San Lucas Pavilion by FRPO is a concrete pool house amongst pine trees
Surrounded by pine trees on the outskirts of Madrid, this concrete structure by Spanish architecture firm FRPO provides shelter and cooking facilities beside a swimming pool (+ slideshow).
The single-storey San Lucas Pavilion was designed by FRPO to accompany an outdoor pool shared by several residences, and it comprises a robust canopy supported by seven narrow columns.
Within the 11- by 11-metre pool house, independent white-tiled brick boxes enclose more specific functions and provide the pavilion with designated cooking and food preparation areas.
"The spatial conditions of the pavilion are clear," said the architects. "A sort of field is arranged for different activities to take place."
Basing their choice of material on the relationship it would have with the landscape, the architects opted for dark-toned concrete.
"As an architectural proposal, the pavilion arises from both the understanding of the material and its extreme conditions, and from the relationship between object and landscape," FRPO architect Francisco Díaz told Dezeen.
"The pavilion is transparent, but prominent and immediate in its materiality."
The space is organised in a grid-like manner, and walls frames views of a nearby prairie.
For the flooring, coloured tiles were chosen to mirror the formation of the roof. Holes in the slab allow vegetation to grow up along the columns.
Folded metal sheets were applied to certain sections of the roofing to provide shelter from the rain.
FRPO previously completed a wooden house in a forest near Madrid that branches off in different directions to slot into gaps between the trees.
Photography is by Miguel de Guzmán.