Located in the city of Westlake Hills, Texas, this pool house employs a unique sustainable design strategy that is topped off with a green roof. Impervious cover and storm water run off regulations within the city are very tight, but architect Murray Ledge came up with an ingenious and sustainable way to get around the regulations when it came time to build -- a garden roof! A low-slung building with a permeable cover, the structure sits amicably on its site with a hill-like form that echoes the surrounding landscape. Rather than being spread out over the site, much of the project's equipment and program is stacked underneath the garden roof, reducing the overall building footprint.

The rooftop garden sits above floor to ceiling windows that makes the roof covered in coneflowers, black-foot daisies, and native grasses appear as if it is floating in the air. From the main house, the pool house virtually disappears, showing only a rich rug of vegetation. With more than ten inches of soil, the roof garden mimics the natural way the earth absorbs rainwater; drain holes cut into the metallic frame that anchors the garden act like boat scuppers, allowing excess water to flow out.

+ Murray Ledge Architect

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