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To quote Charles Dickens, this is the best of times and the worst of times. As the industry grapples with extreme demand, it also faces a host of challenges that make meeting that demand all the more difficult. Now, it’s starting to look like drought can be added to the list of dark clouds looming on the horizon.
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Becoming an independent aquatic designer is an aspiration for many watershape professionals looking to leave the rigors of construction behind. Working his way through nearly all aspects of pool design, construction and sales over a nearly three-decade career, Kevin Woodhurst recently made the full design transition, a journey, he says, that was both deliberate and, at times, also unexpected.
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For all the attention record-setting fountains receive when they come on line, the medium-to-small fountains are the true bread and butter for the industry that makes them. As David L’Heureux of Crystal Fountains explains here, working at the more commonplace tiers of the market requires every bit as much creativity, flexibility and sometimes patience as needed when tackling fountains that become household names.
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Despite being located in Florida swampland, there are few to no mosquitos at Disney World? The reason behind that notable lack of airborne bloodsuckers stands as one of Disney’s many great, yet little known, technical achievements and (spoiler alert) the solutions are mostly based on how the movement of water is engineered and managed throughout the enormous and decidedly soggy property.
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As the world fights to re-emerge from the pandemic, the question remains whether or not the "2020" Tokyo Summer Olympics will go forward. If it does, the gathering will feature a beautiful new aquatic center, built for the games but designed for mixed use once the torch has been extinguished.
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Artaic (Boston, Mass.) has launched its Quad Collection of tile mosaics. The collection showcases a wide array geometric patterns and alignments for use in grid-style, classic and modular applications. Part of the company’s Vitreous Glass line, the collection is available in new sizes, ½ inch, 1 inch. Artaic’s Glazed Porcelain line, is also offered in new 1-inch, 2-inch, 1-by-2-inch, 2-by-4-inch and 4-inch tile sizes. To learn more, click here.
Hayward Industries (Elizabeth, N.J.) offers CrystaLogic LED Pool & Spa Lights. UL listed to retrofit virtually any installed niches, the 12-volt, two-wire, all-plastic, lights can be installed four inches from the waterline. The optimized LED and optic design deliver both extraordinary lumen per watt energy efficiency and associated long lifetime cost. All pool and spa lights offer dramatic energy savings of 84% over incandescent lights. To learn more, click here.
JED Pool Tools (Scranton, Penn.) offers a three-tier wall-mounted pool fountain featuring a flower petal design. The fully adjustable fountain spray height and direction, make it an ideal addition to any swimming pool, enhancing the outdoor living area with beautiful arcs of water and the peaceful sounds of the spray while relaxing poolside. The fountain hooks directly into 1-3/4” threaded return fittings. To learn more, click here.
The pool and spa industry recently lost one of its founding fathers and most influential figures, the magnetic, always colorful and sometimes irascible, Al Rizzo. His career building pools spanned more than six decades, during which time he doggedly worked to unify and elevate the industry he loved.
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Rico Rock was recently asked to provide its GFRC panels for a large waterfeature for an even grander lagoon made by the Chilean firm, Crystal Lagoons, a company that has set records around the globe for creating the largest recirculated swimming pools ever built. The result is a stunning feature on the “shore” of a Texas housing and resort development that offers luxury in a dynamic recreational setting.
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