Pools & Spas
Everyone is concerned these days about electricity, gasoline and natural gas and all other forms of energy. What is amazing is that, despite this surge in interest, very few people have considered ways in which swimming pools can be built to reduce the energy required to heat them - and by substantial amounts. This dearth of energy consciousness has nothing to do with the manufacturers of heating equipment. It's fair to say that most heater manufacturers - whether they pursue combustion heating with fossil fuel, compression heating with heat pumps or passive heating with radiant solar, absorbent solar panels or solar covers - all have optimized their own products and made them remarkably energy-efficient. The same is true of recirculation systems: Pumps of all kinds are optimized to very high efficiencies, and the pool and spa industry has made positive improvements in acknowledging the necessities of hydraulic efficiency (although it's fair to say we
As with every other step along the path of true quality in watershape construction, a good start-up is critical - a key transitional step requiring supervision, teamwork and passion for the work. This is the point where a watershaper's vision becomes reality, where construction becomes maintenance and where the clients' dream is finally realized. It's another important detail, and getting it right requires complete trust and wide-open lines of communication among builder, service technician and homeowner. That puts a premium on finding the best possible person in your area to take on the responsibility. In my case, I consider myself very fortunate to work with a
The consumer's appetite for beautiful water and creative watershape design has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years - and expectations, it seems, are rising right along with the hunger for exceptional details and impressions. Perimeter-overflow pools and basins are what an increasing number of consumers are after these days, and there's special interest in what are called "wet-edge applications," where the water rises to deck level and flows into a channel slot at the back edge of the coping. It's an amazing look - and harder to
Some details seem simpler than they really are. A case in point is the one I'll describe this time - a detail I call a thermal ledge. In one sense, it's really just a large a big bench located a few inches below the water's surface, but in terms of what it is structurally and what it does to increase enjoyment of a pool, it's something truly special. The ledge pictured here is visually interesting in the way its stone surface picks up the rockwork used throughout the deck and the barbecue area and within the pool itself. As important, it provides the homeowners and their guests
When it's completed sometime in mid-2002, the Mesa Indoor Aquatic Center will be among the premier U.S. facilities for competitive swimming, diving, water polo, synchronized swimming and synchronized diving. Once it's up and running, MIAC will be the country's largest indoor competitive swimming facility owned and operated by a municipality; just as certainly, it will also act for years to come as host to countless world-class aquatic competitions. A project like this
It's something we in the business overlook all too often: Swimming pools, kids and summertime go together. That's why pools have been so enduringly popular, even at a time when watershapers seem to be focusing more than ever before on principles of design and how their work can be artfully integrated into the landscape. I came to building pools from an extensive background in building man-made rocks for theme parks, which has colored my perspective on the way my pools are used. I've also been swimming in backyard pools since I was a kid, and I've built all sorts of rockwork designs for all sorts of
In February 1999, the cover photo on the premiere issue of WaterShapes showed a steel cage for a subgrade piling being lowered into the ground. That image was taken from a feature article by designer/builder David Tisherman, the first of many that he has contributed to the magazine. In that article and in another that followed in April 1999, he detailed the design and construction of an elaborate residential swimming pool project that he
It's natural for me to wax poetic about my work. Gardening and garden designs are what I call my "magnificent obsession" - so much so that the other arts in which I have an interest and for which I even have talent will generally take a back seat. After more than 19 years as a professional landscape designer, I am still driven and excited by the challenge of creating comprehensive landscapes for my clients. I thrive on the complexity of organizing the myriad elements required to create outdoor spaces that function properly, are beautiful and harmonious to the eye - and even touch
I like a good challenge in my work, and I like to have fun making it happen. This project embodied the best of both experiences. The project displayed on these pages was built for a wealthy client who lives on a working horse ranch in the rolling green countryside near Ocala, Fla. Our company, Certified Construction, was up to the task. We build hundreds of highly customized watershapes each year for a variety of theme parks, resorts and high-end residences. Most have highly developed "themes," so we're accustomed to providing our clients with heavy doses of imagination and creativity. The basic marching orders on this job were straightforward: The owner wanted a theme park on his property for his kids - and he didn't really care about
At our firm, we treat every project and every customer as if they're one of a kind - which in truth they are. And we've been lucky in developing a high-end clientele that, on the whole, is looking for something special: They enable us to treat each project as an individual work of art; at the same time, they challenge us to stretch our own abilities and increase the variety of design solutions we bring to the drafting table. In many cases, this requires something of balancing act between what clients think they're after and the practicalities of the site itself, the architecture of adjoining structures and the views of surrounding areas. For that reason, each of our
