The town founders' vision for Caliza Pool was no less than to make it one of the most beautiful pools in the world. When it opened, their dream was realized.
Alys Beach architects and residents Erik Vogt and Marieanne Khoury-Vogt designed Caliza Pool and explain here their vision. Seeing is believing—view the Caliza Pool Photo Gallery.
Caliza Pool was conceived as a communal space in the timeless tradition of the Greek agora or the Roman piazza, and is actually a complex comprising a 50- by 100-foot main pool, a separate family pool, a 75-foot lap pool, and a spa whirlpool. Throughout, exquisite architecture is punctuated with arched colonnades, private cabanas, fountains, lush landscaping and views of the Gulf of Mexico from an elevated terrace.
Caliza means "limestone" in Spanish, and the main pool terrace is completely paved in Dominican limestone. This main pool is a 100-foot-long ellipse and is one of the largest saltwater pools in the world. Encircled by a negative edge that descends to a mosaic tile surround along the pool wall, it is designed with a built–in bench around the perimeter for basking and lounging throughout, along with monumental steps at either end for gentle entry and exit. The pool terrace is raised several feet from the surrounding grade and contained by gracious open-air loggia and garden walls.
Each open-air loggia has its own individual form and function. The south entry loggia is designed in the character of a salon marocain, a furnished outdoor living room with a painted wood ceiling. Billowing curtains and an arched colonnade open onto the Caliza Pool terrace.
The dining loggia is centered on an open-air bar decorated with mosaic and Cuban tiles. On each side of the bar are dining areas with tables shaded by a gallery roof and seating niches built within a thickened wall that is punctuated by wood-screened openings.
Flanking the main pool on the opposite side is the pool loggia, with a 75-foot-long lap pool and a wood trellis above a bamboo hedge. The pool loggia is anchored at each end by the men's and women's bathhouses. A poolside iPod port enables guests to swim laps while enjoying their own music selections underwater. Between the pool and entry loggias is a smaller, more intimate courtyard containing a spa whirlpool nestled privately within a tall, manicured hedge and a stair leading up to a roof terrace above the salon marocain. The terrace affords beautiful views south to the Gulf, and north across the Caliza Pool terrace to the wooded preserve beyond.
The terrace's north edge is defined by an allée of medjool date palms, which in turn shade a row of canopied daybeds.
Behind the palm allée, a sloped walk bordered by a low sitting wall descends to a lower terrace, harboring the family pool. Contained in a raised stone coping, the family pool takes on the geometry of the terrace, gently curving along its length. Built-in benches and a fabric canopy provide comfort and shade. Two clusters of palm trees strung with hammocks flank the pool. Cabanas and garden courts on the lower terrace have views opened up to Alys Beach's park and preserve. The cabanas offer privacy from the pool terrace and expansive views to the north. Wood-screened openings along their sides bring in the light and breezes and connect them with the tropical garden courts between.
Sloped walks that pass through two of these courts lead downward to a third terrace, an oak-shaded lawn punctuated by sculptural chaises facing the northern park and preserve. In this transitional space, the lawn terrace belongs to both Caliza Pool and the park, a final note of formality that celebrates the picturesque park and natural landscape beyond.
The town founders' vision for Caliza Pool was no less than to make it one of the most beautiful pools in the world. When it opened, their dream was realized.
Alys Beach architects and residents Erik Vogt and Marieanne Khoury-Vogt designed Caliza Pool and explain here their vision. Seeing is believing—view the Caliza Pool Photo Gallery.
Caliza Pool was conceived as a communal space in the timeless tradition of the Greek agora or the Roman piazza, and is actually a complex comprising a 50- by 100-foot main pool, a separate family pool, a 75-foot lap pool, and a spa whirlpool. Throughout, exquisite architecture is punctuated with arched colonnades, private cabanas, fountains, lush landscaping and views of the Gulf of Mexico from an elevated terrace.
Caliza means "limestone" in Spanish, and the main pool terrace is completely paved in Dominican limestone. This main pool is a 100-foot-long ellipse and is one of the largest saltwater pools in the world. Encircled by a negative edge that descends to a mosaic tile surround along the pool wall, it is designed with a built–in bench around the perimeter for basking and lounging throughout, along with monumental steps at either end for gentle entry and exit. The pool terrace is raised several feet from the surrounding grade and contained by gracious open-air loggia and garden walls.
Each open-air loggia has its own individual form and function. The south entry loggia is designed in the character of a salon marocain, a furnished outdoor living room with a painted wood ceiling. Billowing curtains and an arched colonnade open onto the Caliza Pool terrace.
The dining loggia is centered on an open-air bar decorated with mosaic and Cuban tiles. On each side of the bar are dining areas with tables shaded by a gallery roof and seating niches built within a thickened wall that is punctuated by wood-screened openings.
Flanking the main pool on the opposite side is the pool loggia, with a 75-foot-long lap pool and a wood trellis above a bamboo hedge. The pool loggia is anchored at each end by the men's and women's bathhouses. A poolside iPod port enables guests to swim laps while enjoying their own music selections underwater. Between the pool and entry loggias is a smaller, more intimate courtyard containing a spa whirlpool nestled privately within a tall, manicured hedge and a stair leading up to a roof terrace above the salon marocain. The terrace affords beautiful views south to the Gulf, and north across the Caliza Pool terrace to the wooded preserve beyond.
The terrace's north edge is defined by an allée of medjool date palms, which in turn shade a row of canopied daybeds.
Behind the palm allée, a sloped walk bordered by a low sitting wall descends to a lower terrace, harboring the family pool. Contained in a raised stone coping, the family pool takes on the geometry of the terrace, gently curving along its length. Built-in benches and a fabric canopy provide comfort and shade. Two clusters of palm trees strung with hammocks flank the pool. Cabanas and garden courts on the lower terrace have views opened up to Alys Beach's park and preserve. The cabanas offer privacy from the pool terrace and expansive views to the north. Wood-screened openings along their sides bring in the light and breezes and connect them with the tropical garden courts between.
Sloped walks that pass through two of these courts lead downward to a third terrace, an oak-shaded lawn punctuated by sculptural chaises facing the northern park and preserve. In this transitional space, the lawn terrace belongs to both Caliza Pool and the park, a final note of formality that celebrates the picturesque park and natural landscape beyond.