A transformable terrace at Chatham Hills

On a golf-course lot, the outdoor room has to look finished every day of the year, not just in July.

The brief was a pool that could disappear. With the floor raised, the surface reads as a continuous stone terrace running out to the fairway, level with the seating area and walkable in ordinary shoes.

What the floor does

Lowered, it is a full pool. Held part way, it is a shallow lounging depth. Closed, it is simply more terrace, which is how it spends the colder half of the Indiana year.

Why it matters here

There is no winter cover, no drained shell and no fenced-off void in the middle of the view. The house keeps its outlook and the terrace keeps its proportions.