resort pool

The Pacific coast of northern Costa Rica is lined with white sand beaches and dense vegetation -- beautiful surroundings that watershaper Joan Roca has long used to inspire his work. Here, he takes us to visit one of his most recent projects, this one for a commercial property with requirements that called on him to find different ways of expressing himself and draw on the character of the surroundings while using only the simplest possible forms.

Straight and Narrow

With watershapes, sometimes the most straightforward forms work out best. That was definitely the case with this project, a swimming pool I designed and built for a beach club near my home in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. The club is part of an overall resort property known as Reserva Conchal, an utterly spectacular spread covering 2,500 acres on scenic Playa Conchal on our country’s north Pacific coast. I first became involved with the resort’s owners about ten years ago, when they were completing their first phase and I helped them solve some problems with a pool that had been built by another firm. Since then, as the owners’ master plan has gradually unfolded, I’ve worked with them on a number of pools in various spots around the huge property, including watershapes for various condominiums and other facilities. My involvement with their newly constructed club has been, by far, the most