Pools & Spas
It was a great project: The client called us in to look at a sloping backyard for which his one and only wish was an environment that would be "organic and pre-existing" - that is, a composition that looked as though it had been there forever, long before the adjacent home entered the picture. That sort of look is our stock in trade at Outdoor Republic, a Pleasanton, Calif.-based firm that specializes in the use of artificial rock. As is often the case, we became involved after the homeowner had
When agitated or flowing water moves through the air, it loses carbon dioxide. That's particularly significant in systems with fountain jets, waterfalls or vanishing edges, observes Kim Skinner, with the loss affecting pH in ways that must be dealt with to avoid big problems.
Indoor pools are wonderful as both design challenges and family recreation centers. But as Paolo Benedetti discusses here, they'll stand the test of time only if you take care of moving the moisture they generate away from the indoor space -- no shortcuts allowed!
Once U.S. designers and builders "discovered" vanishing edges - probably at some point in the 1980s, although the look emerged long before then with some forward-thinking architects and watershapers - we've never let this highly visual design detail go. I use these edge effects in my designs all the time, and setting them up in the best way possible has
Devising an approach to the application of fields of glass tile to complex surfaces is never simple, but when your goal is to do so while minimizing cuts and eliminating any visual "tics" that might stand out like sore thumbs when the work is done? That's taking the work to a whole different level. The project under discussion here, built in Gilbert, Ariz., offered this sort of challenge twice - once in a large entryway waterfeature, and again in the backyard with an outsized
The fun thing about working on spec houses is that, every once in a while, you run into a client who truly wants to blow the doors off - in the best way possible, of course. That was certainly true here: The home is right on the water on one of the islands in Biscayne Bay where Miami's elite prefer to live, and the eventual asking price for the property was in the $26 million range, give or take. It's an area where few
In most backyard swimming pool projects, we install the drainage systems for decks after the swimming pool's plumbing, basically because the pool plumbers use big trenchers that will likely destroy the small drainage plumbing if
In recent years, it's been difficult to avoid two large and related discussions about water treatment as it relates to swimming pools and spas. One the one hand are discussions of the evils of chlorine, which, after more than a century of common and beneficial use, is still widely misunderstood by homeowners and many professionals in the watershaping trades. On the other are conversations about chlorine-free pools and spas - another set of exchanges where there's proving to be
I'm a big fan of beach entries: As I see it, they wrap at least five important design and usage issues up in one neat package. First, they provide easy access to the pool. Second, that access is gradual, which many bathers prefer. Third, they bring a bit of visual drama to the water's edge - and then repeat it where the slope breaks off into deeper water. Fourth, they create an easy
This is the story of a project where I'm still not sure which was tested more - my creativity or my patience. It was one of the first design tasks I tackled after moving to Katy, Texas, in 2009. In retrospect, it may not have been the ideal time to relocate: The full force of the Great Recession wasn't clear at that point; I had a job but no direct way to bank on the good reputation I'd built where
