Pools & Spas
The Arthur D. Kinney Natatorium was designed with a practical mission in mind: From the outset, the facility was intended to provide long-term performance, outstanding aesthetics, ease of operation and minimal maintenance life cycles while enhancing the university's recruiting efforts and fostering individual and team achievement. In this case, however, the "individuals" aren't just star athletes pursuing records and titles. Rather, the natatorium on Bucknell University's Lewisburg, Pa., campus is unique in the sense that the school chose not to segregate varsity athletes from general student/recreational users. Indeed, the facility, part of the university's grand Kenneth G. Langone Athletics & Recreation Center, is designed to bring everyone
It seems so simple: No matter whether it's a residential or commercial project, the design parameters for indoor swimming pools generally call for warm water (typically 82 degrees, or a bit less for a competition pool), air temperature two to four degrees warmer than the water, and a relative humidity in the enclosed space of between 55% and 60%. And it wasn't some committee of pool builders who came up with those figures: The numbers are endorsed and published by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration & Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and have been accepted as
If the art of watershaping is ultimately about visuals, then creating a situation for yourself in which you're virtually guaranteed to create visual disruptions is something you certainly do not want to do. That's the situation I currently face in the renovation of a pool at a stunning, 1920s-vintage home in the heart of Los Angeles. As I indicated in my last column, it's a remarkably beautiful setting that features a 70-year-old pool that was well designed, expertly installed, well worth keeping - and surrounded by
For more than two full years, this project was my personal and professional obsession. It all started in 1993, when my client, a wealthy recording-industry magnate, called on me to design the landscape for a property he'd just acquired in Bel Air, one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in Los Angeles. The Spanish Colonial-style home had been built in the 1920s and was in a sad state of disrepair. By the time I arrived, it had been gutted to the studs, and very nearly all of the hardscape and plantings around the house had been torn out as well. What he was offering me was a tantalizingly blank canvas in a most spectacular setting. In the two years that followed, not only would we
From pools, spas and fountains to streams, ponds and waterparks, effective watershaping is largely about the plumbing that makes these systems work. If you see things that way, says hydraulics expert Steve Gutai, there's nothing more fundamental to success than making proper connections in the system's plumbing lines, first time, every time, and piping joints that will bear up under pressure for the long haul.
Take it from someone who has ripped out and replaced more than his share of old and failed swimming pools through the years: Some things are worth keeping! That's why it's so wonderful to find an old pool - a product of the industry's infancy - that has stood the test of time and has won the right to be left in place. This is the first in a series of columns on one such pool. It's also the start of a story about clients who appreciate art and style and have surrounded themselves with objects and spaces of true value and beauty. I knew right away that
There's no room for guesswork when it comes to structural engineering, says Ron Lacher of Pool Engineering, Inc., and that's especially true when it comes to concrete structures designed to contain water. Here, he opens a series on structural fundamentals related to watershapes by defining the need for precise structural planning and careful attention to workmanship - the keys, he says, to achieving a project's aesthetic and functional goals. Despite the apparent intricacy of any good set of engineering drawings and contrary to what many people think, structural plans for concrete watershapes are pretty cut and dried. At the most basic level, the art and science of structural engineering deals with predictable forces placed upon structures and with the construction techniques and materials required to counteract those forces. The basic mathematic calculations are straightforward stuff, and everything runs in accordance with building codes that
The notion that water can be used to treat physical problems and conditions is not new. In fact, when you study the history of watershaping and aquatic design, one of the first things you learn is that the ancient Romans might actually have had a better grip on the healing and nurturing powers of water than we ever will. In our own work in designing and installing environments that nurture the spirit and invigorate the body, we pursue that Roman heritage as best we can - and always keep water in mind as a key component. The project described in this article stands as one our most dramatic explorations of the curative power of water to date. The pool, spa and
When you look at this project in finished form, there's no way to see the months of struggle or the overall level of difficulty that went into its creation. You don't see the fact, for example, that we discovered while excavating the courtyard that the house itself was in imminent danger of collapsing. You don't see that the narrow access way buckled when we first started working, or the ugly trauma of the broken septic tank. You can't see the continuous changes in thought, direction and design that went into the deck, or the tremendous time and effort required to make the
It's a little too easy to lose sight of what holds the most meaning our work as watershapers - even when it's out there in plain view. In fact, if we're to be honest in assessing the palette of finish materials we use, I think most of us would have to concede that these products can become so familiar that thinking creatively about the full spectrum of their possibilities is something that often falls by the wayside. I believe we should be on guard against
