Italian Villa
May 14, 2020
This project is a close approximation of a classic southern Italian Villa the owners came across while traveling in Tuscany but located in Coastal Orange County.
In addition to an infinity pool and guesthouse, the grounds are covered in 200 year-old imported Italian olive trees.
The mechanical system is housed in an underground bunker, completely out of sight. Installed under the lawn is a waste heat rejection field, which, along with the evaporative cooling provided by the infinity pool, keeps the system nicely cooled, providing invisible cooling throughout the house.
This unique mechanical system does not stop at the pool. It is what is called a 4-pipe hydronic system with a boiler driven hydronic heating system, accounting for two of the four pipes and a 20 ton custom hydronic chiller to address the cooling load, the other 2 pipes. Seven UNICO Small Duct High Velocity fan/coils were installed in two basement equipment rooms.
¾” x 8″ UNICO slot ports were used exclusively for the heating and cooling air delivery. You can see one of them integrated into the brick work below, along with the Infinity Pool, below. Inconspicuous, but effective.
