Pools & Spas

The Key to Collaboration
Designer Randy Angell believes in the power of working together, a value he learned as a kid singing in choirs. Today, he applies the idea of synergistic creativity to his design practice, bringing a team together to create unique environments based on a collection of talents working as one.    ...
Thinking With Your Eyes
French designer Logan Guinard relocated nearly 6,000 miles from his home to establish a career in California’s Coachella Valley. He came with faith in himself, a design education, practical experience but little else. In just two years, he has become established as a designer working for high-end clients who want only the best. ...
Detail P850: Surge Basin Drain Design
In WaterShapes’ most recent Beneath the Surface, Dave Peterson described and diagramed suction outlet fittings assemblies (SOFAs) for pool and spa applications, a topic also covered by Steve Barnes in a recent Wolfpack Webinar Wednesday. This time the focus shifts to suction in surge tanks, where safety isn’t the concern, but debris certainly is.    ...
Small Pools, Big Appeal
The enjoyment of soaking is universal, say Karen Larson and Brian Larson, or at least it has that potential. The founders of New Hampshire’s Soake Pools set out to offer a concept that combines the health benefits of immersion in hot or cold water, with the convenience of compact, pre-manufactured concrete pools, a business concept that has steadily gained momentum over the past seven years. ...
Back to Trade Shows
When trade shows resume, will attendees return as well? It’s hard to know for sure, says Eric Herman, but as he points out, it’s very likely that the industry is about to find out. The first big test looks to be the upcoming International Pool | Spa | Patio & Deck EXPO set for Dallas in November, where organizers are betting on pent-up demand to overcome reluctance to attend in-person events. ...
Painting in Water
Watershape designer and builder, Steve Kenny, believes that water encompasses both art and science. While his day job is focused on running a company that designs, builds and services high-end residential and commercial swimming pools, he also takes time to explore his purely artistic instincts. The result is a body of water images that represent the beauty and inner mysteries of the world’s most important and beautiful fluid matrix. ...
Fluid Instruction
As in-person education continues to stumble as a result of the pandemic, Watershape University continues to develop new on-line instructional offerings. Extensive Programs covering construction, engineering, cost estimating, along with dozens of other topics in our weekly Wednesday Webinar series are all designed to give watershapers the information needed to advance in today’s unusual market. ...
Detail P401: Suction Outlet Configurations
Drains, or more accurately, suction outlets, should be easily understood. Setting up safe and code-compliant outlet configurations involves simple plumbing with no moving parts, and it requires a relatively straightforward coordination of outlet sizing to maximum flow rate. But, as Dave Peterson explains, some builders are still getting it wrong. Fortunately, this simple detail can help many get it right. ...
Water in the Air
Do pools raise humidity? Given that moisture content of the air is the result of evaporation, the vast majority from the ocean, is it possible that areas with high numbers of pools experience more humid conditions? If so, do pools ironically compromise the outdoor experience rather than offer comfort? Eric Herman tackles those questions, with an eye toward separating fact from “suburban” myth.   ...
Essential Inner-City Pools
Los Angeles has opened two community pools that officials and local citizens hope will bring the joy, health and safety of swimming to a community that for too long has not had a place to cool off and swim a few laps. ...