innovation
Pool industry pioneer, Howard Arneson, passed away of natural causes, June 16th in San Rafael, Calif. He was 99. Although many people in today's pool industry may not be old enough to remember Arneson, he is largely credited with changing the industry in the early 1960s by popularizing the
The cliché is true; to know where you're going you've got to know where you've been. Like all professions, watershaping has a rich history of innovation and groundbreaking achievements. Unlike other more heralded fields, however, there is no watershaping hall of fame - but if there were, you'd find many an inductee covered in these pages. Most every field of human endeavor has its
‘If you’ve ever designed or installed commercial swimming pools in the United States,’ wrote Brian Van Bower in his column for the August 2007 issue of WaterShapes, ‘it’s likely you’re well acquainted with just how strange certain health department standards (and the officials who enforce them) can be.’ ‘I believe things have gone so far wrong,’ he added, ‘that it’s time for the industry to do something about it. Yes, it will require a concerted, long-term effort to get anything done, but some of these issues are so ridiculous that
‘One of the skills of a good designer is the ability to recognize those situations in which less is more.’ With those words, David Tisherman opened a landmark 2002 column that began changing the way the watershaping world looked at spa spillovers and other pool-related cascades. *** ‘Using [an] understated approach helps the designer or builder avoid
Of all the design trends that have taken hold in watershaping through the past ten years, the one that leads us to work with plenty of slot-edge, perimeter-overflow systems may well be my favorite. I've done them partway and all the way around pools and spas; I've run them up against all sorts of materials, from poured concrete to incredibly beautiful varieties of stone; and, most of all, I've appreciated the skill that goes into installing them and making these water-in-transit
It always makes me happy to see innovations in watershaping. As I've mentioned before, there were times in the 1980s when I had the sense that not much was possible beyond what we already had on hand. But the past 20 years have completely driven off that impression, and I'm happy to say that just about every time I turn around something new jumps to my attention. I have two such developments in mind as I write this, one that appeals to me because of my love of opportunities to
I've been around watershapes a long time - for more than three-quarters of my professional life. I started out with scientific and technical magazines in 1980, but once I started splashing around at Pool & Spa News in 1987, I never really looked back. As it turns out, I found my way into the world of aquatics
When I come across headlines about technological breakthroughs, I generally decide about reading further based upon the subject's relevance to what I do either as a private person or as a professional - and I have to say that, most times, I never get past the bold print. A couple weeks back, however, I was intrigued enough by
