Kelly Klein at The Beatrice InnYour first book on pools came out 20 years ago. What made you decide to revisit the subject?
Because swimming pools are very much a piece of architecture, a piece of sculpture, to me, that’s the way I see them. It’s as important as your house, your landscaping. And it never used to be. And twenty years had passed and I knew that there have been a lot of amazing pools built by amazing architects that were not in my first book and it was probably time.
Do you spend a lot of time in pools?
I love to swim, but living in New York and East Hampton, I don’t have a pool.
You have two books about swimming pools and don’t have a pool in East Hampton?
Well, I own one in Florida, but I don’t get to that house too much.
What’s the most divine pool you ever swam in?
Gosh… that’s a really hard question. My favorites in the book, I think that there’s a whole movement in these cement pools that are built above ground, like horse or cattle troughs, they’re very sculptural from afar, they might just stick out in a paddock or in a field and they look really interesting. And then you walk to them and realize they’re just a real swimming pool. That’s the new movement.
Maybe your next favorite pool should be the one you build in East Hampton.
Well, that would be nice. That’s a good idea. My son loves to swim, he’s a great swimmer. He’s almost five. He’s a fish, so he may require that I build a pool.
Click here to see excerpts from Pools: Reflections.
Photo: Billy Farrell Agency
