Ciprianos Violin Pool Takes Social Media By Storm

Today we’ll be looking at the iconic Violin Pool and talking with the builder behind it. The most seasoned and experienced pool builders are capable of creating interesting shapes that evoke emotion and defy architectural boundaries. This is definitely the case with Chris Cipriano owner of Cipriano Landscape Design & Custom Swimming Pools, a 4 time Top 50 PSN Builder with numerous awards and accolades spanning over two decades in the pool industry.

Joe Trusty, Editor in Chief of Pool Magazine and CEO of Pool Marketing had a chance to catch up with Chris Cipriano recently and discussed one of his projects. An incredible violin shaped glass tile pool that has taken social media by storm.

The Violin Pool has become known as The Mariah Carey

The Violin Pool or known to the rest of the world as the Mariah Carey Pool is probably become one of the most iconic images associated with modern inground swimming pool designs. The pool itself is shaped like a 1700’s Stradivarius violin and incorporates realistic visual elements from the chinrest to the bow that runs across the neck.

Is This Mariah Carey’s Pool?

Multi-platinum artist Mariah Carey has been residing in the six-bedroom mansion during the Covid-19 pandemic. The diva super star vacated her glamarous penthouse with her twins in March ahead of the lockdown and has been renting the Westchester country estate since according to Variety Magazine.

Cipriano was the lead builder and designer for this impressive 1,350 square foot pool that is composed of over 440,000 individual pieces of hand cut mosaic tile. We asked him to shed a little light about the history of this pool and what it took to build it.

“The homeowner had the idea for a modern pool design based off the shape of a violin, particularly a Stradivarius. We started from a copy of the violin to base our design concepts from.” said Cipriano. “The challenge was incorporating all of the elements of the violin such as purlflings, f-holes, a bridge, strings, a tailpiece, and a chinrest but still have it be a useable swimming pool.”

Violin Glass Tile Pool With Custom Features:

• 12-person perimeter overflow spa, with independent LED lighting.
• 2 fish filled koi-ponds, built to resemble the “bow” of the violin, are visible to swimmers via 2 transparent acrylic panels, and are outfitted with 250 fiber optic star-lights.
• Nearly half a million translucent glass tiles designed with a unique 4-way gradient pattern.
• Fiber optic rope lighting detail that illuminates the entire periphery of the pool.
• Violin strings represented by 5760 strands of fiber optic lighting, which glow beautifully at night and can be synchronized with music playing externally.
• Riverflow jet system capable of creating a 2000 gallon/minute current that is strong enough to kayak or swim against.
• 1,000,000 BTU heater makes year round use of the pool and spa enjoyable.
• Wireless technology allows the homeowner to adjust any pool settings and landscape utilities directly from an iPhone.
• Underwater audio system makes listening to music possible while swimming laps or playing underwater.

One of the most eye catching aspects of the swimming pool is it’s mosaic tile interior. “It’s near impossible to achieve a seamless 4 direction gradient with mosaic tile but we were able to pull it off. Oceanside Glass Tile was really instrumental in helping us with this project. Not to mention Ron Jackson of Tesserae Tile & Stone and Dave Peterson of Watershape Consulting both of whom really helped to make this project such a success”.

Ciprianos team used ¾- x ¾-inch tiles — from Oceanside’s Muse collection to form the interior for the 90-foot-long pool, measuring 31 feet at the widest point and 16 ½ feet at the narrowest. “Oceanside plotted, designed and prepared sheets of tile from 1 to 15 for the gradient transition. Our team then mapped out in Auto CAD each sheet of tile on the main pool floor,” Cipriano went on to say. “While we were performing the installation, we had a person on site whose entire job was to color correct the sheets as they were being installed.”

Even with 2 decades of pool construction experience under his belt, Cipriano said the project did have it’s fair share of challenges. “This project is the first time that glass tile and fiber optic lighting have been used together in a swimming pool, so we had no reference to go off of for that type of installation.” The design process itself took over 10 months. Installation took Cipriano and a team of 8 workers over 2 months to complete.

“I’m not a builder that has to do 100 pools a year” Cipriano said “I’d rather work on projects that inspire and challenge me.”

Chris cipriano – owner of cipriano landscape design & custom swimming pools

Cipriano also integrated many custom pool features that truly make this a one-of-a-kind inground swimming pool. His team constructed a 12-person perimeter overflow spa with it’s own LED lighting system to accurately represent the chinrest of the violin. Swimmers in the pool can view Koi fish swimming through 2 see through panels in adjascent ponds, built to resemble the bow of the violin. These are outfitted with 250 fiber optic star-lights and over 6,000 strands of fiber optic lighting which represent the violin strings. The strings themselves can be illuminated and synchronized to play along with an external music system that can be controlled with an iPhone.

The $1.5 million dollar Violin Pool project was a collaborative effort of Chris Cipriano, Dan Shea and William Moore. Their remarkable design has won numerous awards including CID’s “Residential Tile Installation” award in 2014. Representing the very cutting edge in modern pool design and a true testament to why Chris Cipriano has become recognized as one of the leading builders in the pool industry today.

• Pool Designer/Pool Builder: Cipriano Landscape Design & Custom Swimming Pools, Mahwah, NJ
• Tile Manufacturer/Supplier: Oceanside Glass Tile, Carlsbad, CA
• Stone Supplier: Valders Stone & Marble, Inc., Valders, WI
• Installation Products: Mapei, Deerfield Beach, FL