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What’s New in Pool Design?

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James Lascelles Senior Landscape Architect, OFTB

What's new in pool design?

Pool design is ever-changing. From the traditional rectangular pools of the 1920s and 30s, to the kidney-shaped pools of the 1970’s and 80s. Today’s pool design is no exception. A few features stand out.

New pool designs have become more sympathetic to the existing architecture of the house and surrounding gardens, picking up colour tones used elsewhere. This has led to a whole range of new pool tiles becoming available on the market, particularly preferencing the grey colour palette over traditional blue tiles. These range from dark charcoal to very pale grey. Designers and their clients have also begun to appreciate the water colour produced from various tile colours: white tiles will produce clear blue water, mid-grey tiles will produce a clean, turquoise-green water colour, and black tiles will reflect the landscape beyond the pool like a mirror. This brings something natural to the garden that a synthetic-coloured pool tile does not replicate.

Equally important is the tile choice on the outside of the pool, particularly where the pool is raised out of ground and the exposed vertical side is clad in tiles. Large stone or porcelain tiles on the outside, with a subtle texture and small glittering glass mosaic tiles internally, help create the sense of something precious - like a jewellery box that is plain on the outside, but glittering internally. This looks great with lush planting in a garden bed along the front of the pool.

The ‘beach entry’, or widened first step into a pool, has also grown in popularity in recent pool design. About 200mm deep, these are wide enough to lay down on or to place a couple of semi-submerged sun-loungers, which is perfect for those very hot days in Melbourne. They remind me of Melbourne’s Port Phillip Bay beaches where you can lay around quite comfortably in the shallow calm water.

Recent build in Berwick, May 2021

What are consumers currently demanding?

Much of the recent developments in pool design and their operation has been led by the savvy and well-informed consumer.

Over recent years, consumers have been increasingly requested Dead Sea mineral salts to keep their pool water clean, whilst being gentler on the skin. The magnesium content is said to be therapeutic for various skin conditions such as eczema, and has a definite softer feel.

In terms of heating, more clients are requesting electric heat pumps, which in combination with solar panels on their roof, provide a cheaper and more environmentally conscious method of heating their pool in the long term.

With garden spaces getting smaller and smaller, clients are asking more of their pools. If the space is limited, a client may only have enough space for a spa or a smaller plunge pool. In this instance, they ask that the pool is deep enough to plunge in to in the hot summer months, but small enough to use as a spa, with jets and a good heater for the winter months. This gives them something beautiful to look at that can be used year-round.

Tired of cleaning glass pool fencing, some clients are asking for alternatives. Upright steel tube pool fencing, or thin steel rods connected by a top bar, form an interesting, clean aesthetic that does not require the same maintenance as glass cleaning.

What types of pools are you designing for interstate and overseas builds?

Recently I was appointed to work up a design for a small, high-end holiday resort in Vanuatu. It is a beautiful spot, with the beachfront accommodation spilling out on to the lawn overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The client requested a beautiful wet-edge pool and the design brief called for plenty of sun-lounging space on the deck to the side for the guests. The prize feature is unquestionably the wet-edge where, from the central pavilion building, the pool water slips over the edge, appearing to meet with the sea beyond. It is stunning!

In addition to the design of this pool, we supplied the pool equipment needed for the build, having it shipped to Vanuatu for construction locally.

OFTB has also designed a range of domestic and resort pools in the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Greece and South Africa.

More locally, I was appointed to design a pool for an interstate client in Samford, Queensland. This client was open to us pushing the boundaries in terms of design, wanting something a bit more interesting than a standard, rectangular shaped pool. The pool design included a wet-edge, a ramped entry (rather than stairs), largeformat stone tiles cladded internally, and a row of trees that transect the pool into two separate areas. The finished pool is stunning, with the wet-edge overlooking the beautiful Samford Valley.

Small, high-end holiday resort in Vanuatu

How long have you been involved in the design of swimming pools and spas?

My first experience with pool design was in London, where I spent my first 8 years working as a junior landscape architect. Several of our clients had requested a swimming pool as part of their design brief for their country estate/weekender properties in the home-counties an hour or so from London. These were fairly traditional pools, not necessarily pushing the envelope in terms of design. After arriving back in Melbourne in 2013, I was lucky enough to find that OFTB had a job opening and have been working with them ever since. I had known of OFTB since my university days, having had previous OFTB landscape architects coming in to RMIT, presenting some of their amazing awardwinning swimming pools to us that had been designed and built by the OFTB team.

Pool build in Samford, Queensland

What do you love about the pool and spa industry?

The pool & spa industry in Melbourne has a fair amount of healthy competition amongst the SPASAVIC (now MPBAA) members which I love because it really helps to push good design to the forefront. This is evident with the high turn-out and quality of projects entered at SPASAVIC’s annual awards night. The members are very proud of what they have built and are keen to show off their projects and see what other members have been working on. It gives the members an insight into what others are building - their techniques, materials and design components.

I was fortunate enough to grow up with a pool in the 1980s (yes, it was kidney-shaped!) and I am definitely a pool person. I love the sun and swimming and it is a pleasure to work on designing pools.

The movement of water and its sound brings so much to a garden space. As does the playful element – the sounds off in the distance of kids laughing and splashing about in a pool somewhere in the neighbourhood. I sometimes wonder whether I could go back to designing gardens without swimming pools! Would I continually struggle with thinking that there was just something missing?

I find inspiration in the history of pool design and the culture that comes with it, including all the swimming pool paraphernalia – diving boards, pool ladders, inflatable toys, pool parties, swimwear, sun tan lotion … it’s a sexy industry!

On a personal level, I love forming a bond with my clients with the common goal of a great result. Taking their brief and working up something that they are excited about, then watching the design come to life. It’s super satisfying at the completion of a project to stand back and look at the transformation, particularly when my clients are so proud of their new outdoor spaces.

What is your hot tip for pools of the future?

Where space prevails, we may see more ramped entries into pools rather than traditional steps, which brings something new and playful. Like entering the sea, a gentle ramp down into the deeper water along one side of the pool provides a smoother transition in and out of the water, particularly if combined with a large format porcelain tile with a bit of textured grip underfoot.

On tiles lining the pool, I expect that there may be a move away from the standard 5cm ceramic pool tile to a larger stone or porcelain tile. While the small, traditional tiles are great, there are now plenty of other options out there: large porcelain tiles 600x1200 with a concrete or stone look which greatly reduces the visible grout lines and gives a more uniform look throughout.

Alternatively, stone tiles such as Balinesestyle sukabami tiles may be used, which bring a tropical-looking tranquil, natural green colour to the pool water. Glass mosaic tiles can also add texture and reflect sunlight and although they have been around for a while, I can imagine that they will continue to be a great option because of their dazzling beauty.

Finally, water features: if you have background noise such as the hum of heavy traffic, a water feature can help drown out the noise. These can be fabricated in a multitude of different shapes, colours and sizes and bring movement and playfulness to the overall scheme.

And, for extra ambience in the evening, think about some sort of light-feature to a wall or fence behind the pool that may be reflected on the surface of the water like a mirror. Flat LED light panels, for example, can be installed flush with the wall surface and also fabricated in any shape or size.

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