A South Delhi farmhouse that wanted a winter sauna and a summer cold plunge, and a generator that could not start the chiller

The brief, in the owner's order

The family spends most winter weekends at the farmhouse and most summer afternoons in the pool of the neighbouring club. The brief had four lines: a sauna for six; a pool that is cold in May; a warm pool for the grandparents; and nothing that looks like a service yard. A caretaker and a gardener run the plot. The old gazebo on the lawn was to be replaced, not added to.

What was drawn

The cabin has two glass walls meeting at a corner and faces the lawn; it stands on a raised plinth with a teak deck around it. Beside it, the hot and cold pair share one marble ledge, with the warm pool under a pergola and the cold pool in the open. The plant sits behind a sandstone screen wall on the far side of the pool, with a louvre at each end and a path wide enough for a compressor. Stepping stones cross the lawn so that wet feet do not reach the deck. The pieces are the ones described on the farmhouse saunas and hot and cold plunge suites pages.

The tight point: a supply that could not carry the plant

The farmhouse ran on a single-phase supply with a generator set of modest size. A 12 kW heater wants three phases, and the cold plant's compressor draws a starting current that the generator could not meet. The layout solved it in three moves. The cabin got a three-phase feeder, approved by the owner's electrical contractor and the utility. The cold plant got a soft-start so its starting current dropped. And the heater was interlocked with the generator's changeover, so that it does not start on the generator unless the owner chooses. The owner's electrician owned each of those decisions; we drew them and put them on one sheet.

Schedule, as drawn

What the first month was planned to show

• The warm pool is expected to be used in December and January and little in May, and the cold pool the other way round, so the loops are sized accordingly.
• The gardener is likely to become the person who knows the plant, so the caretaker card is written for him as well.
• The pergola over the warm pool is there to cut leaf fall and solar gain.

What this profile means for your brief

• If your plot runs on a single-phase supply, plan the three-phase upgrade and the generator decision first; they set the schedule.
• If you want both seasons, draw the warm loop small and the cold plant generous.
• If the plot has a gazebo or a lawn feature to replace, keep its footprint: the owner's eye is already trained to it.
• If a caretaker will run it, write the stand-by card before the plant is ordered.