ARTICLES Archives - Page 170 of 315

Swimming in Harmony with Nature

Did you know that there's a strong trend toward creating ponds that are made for swimming in Germany and Austria? That revelation came by way of a terrific book I just finished — Natural Swimming Pools: Inspiration for Harmony with Nature by Michael Littlewood (Schiffer Publishing, 2004). Littlewood is an American landscape designer who

Recall the Drains Themselves!

The commercial pool and spa industrywas rocked recently by the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s mandatory recall of main-drain grates — devices that had been designed, engineered and manufactured within the past two years to meet specific provisions

Waterproofing Raised Spas

For generations, the rank-and-file of the pool industry has operated under the general assumption that plaster is an effective waterproofing membrane. That’s not the case: As is true of all cement-based materials, plaster is

What Happened to Beijing’s ‘Water Cube’ Aquatics Center?

Article: Learn more about the Beijing National Aquatics Center (the “Water Cube”) from Wikipedia. Click here. Video: Watch a CNN interview with

Graceful Reflections

In all my many years of working with water, I’ve never grown tired of its remarkable beauty and complexity – or of the variations it encompasses, the ways it changes and the endless fascination it offers to those who come into its presence. At the heart of water’s ability to inspire us and rivet our attention is its capacity to reflect. There’s something truly magical about the way water mirrors the sky, a surrounding landscape, nearby architecture or a well-placed work of art. It’s a gift of sorts, a timeless bounty that has captured imaginations ever since Narcissus fell in

Vanishing Edge Pools: Problems and Solutions

Vanishing-edge pools (or infinity pools, as some call them) have become a fixture in the world of pool and spa design. Once considered exotic and highly unusual, you find them now in

Test Your Knowledge #10

How much do you know about water polo?

Ripples #21

Compiled and Written by Lenny GiteckGwyneth Paltrow Burned in Freak Accident — Swimming Pool Prevents Worse Injury According to an article on Torontosun.com, Academy Award-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who bought a rotisserie barbecue last year, suffered a freak accident this past summer while

Packaging Your Finest Work

By Mike Farley One of the greatest contrasts I’ve found between watershapers from the pool and spa industry and watershapers with backgrounds in landscape architecture is the way representatives of the two groups handle their portfolios. Landscape architects are taught that

Keeping It Clean: 21st Century Water Management

By Eric Herman It’s a given: As human beings, we are all utterly dependent on the availability of fresh, clear, potable water for our survival. As a result, the preservation of aquatic resources of all types is an interest in which all people should share. At the same time,