ARTICLES Archives - Page 32 of 315

Artaic Introduces Quad Collection

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’s CrystaLogic LED Pool & Spa Lights

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 Offers Flower Fountain

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.

A Tribute: Albert “Al” Rizzo (May 27, 1934 – May 3, 2021)

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. ...

Big and Beautiful

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. ...

Living on an Edge

Vanishing edges and other water-in-transit details remain among the most popular design elements in custom pools. Moving water over an edge can be a powerful aesthetic element, one that expands the perception of space and enhances reflection. Taking advantage of those qualities requires mastering the technical specifics.

Views on Views

Regardless of style, scale or budget, watershape design in one way or another is about forging connections with the surroundings, especially in the presence of natural beauty. Making those natural connections by way of orchestrating human experience is a philosophy that has driven some of history’s greatest designers and continues to resonate today. ...

Riding a River

Lazy Rivers are among the most complex systems found in residential settings. In this installment of Direct Connections, builder Scott Payne details a recent backyard river project that pushed him and his company beyond their comfort zone, but one that yielded a treasure trove of knowledge and a river that takes the clients for a joy ride. ...

Detail A151: Mounting Handrails

Commercial pools must conform to a variety of safety and operational requirements beyond those promulgated in the residential segment of the industry. The ubiquitous 3-bend handrail is no exception. As Dave Peterson explains, even this simple design sometimes fails in implementation -- but help is on the way with this nifty and useful detail. ...

A Million Blue Marbles

As part of Wallace “J” Nichols Year of Blue Mind, he recently offered a reading from his seminal book of the same name. Here is Chapter 9: A Million Blue Marbles, a treatise that broadens perspectives by focusing on something simple and small. ...