Tag Archives: water features

Integrating a landscape project into the natural lay of the land

When a glimpse of a garden leaves a homeowner’s guests speechless, something extraordinary has been created. Designing landscapes in a natural setting requires a careful balance between enhancing existing features and adding new elements that integrate harmoniously into the surroundings. Working with nature as well as managing a team of consultants and contractors requires organization and tact, above all, however, a vision of the final design is needed to guide the project through its various stages.

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Discovering the latest hot tub design trends

As the attraction with outdoor living continues to evolve, one design element that has seen increased popularity is the backyard water feature. Not only do water features add a natural ambiance to any backyard setting, they can be easily added to most landscape designs. Many water features are part of a pool or hot tub installation. Modern swimming pool and hot tub designs can incorporate a variety of water features that give the backyard character and allow homeowners to develop an emotional bond with their outdoor escape. For instance, some water features are often integrated into the design of major pool components such as raised spas, which spill over into the pool. This creates a nice transition between two functional zones and adds a tremendous amount of character to a design.

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Balancing between esthetics and efficiency

A project’s design is influenced by a number of factors. Designers and builders are constantly performing a balancing act with respect to budget, client interests, site conditions, and building codes. The addition of energy efficiency and esthetics only serves to complicate the project. Typically, the client’s budget and expectations dictate to a large degree the final outcome of a design.

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The ins and outs of pool construction

The design is complete; all that remains is for the pool builder to simply follow the plan and everything will be perfect. Most builders will attest, however, that this is far from reality. In fact, once a design is complete, it is often the next day when things start to change. Therefore, the key to success for any project is the builder’s ability to work through these changes and still be able to produce a quality project.

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Creating picturesque, natural-like backyard water features

“These rocks and pools have always been here, haven’t they?” “Surely you didn’t build this.” “This looks like the hand of nature.” These are comments every water shape designer loves to hear, but alas, all too often they do not. Many manmade water features are meant to appear natural; however, most are not that convincing.

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Understanding the challenges of interactive water features

Today there is great acceptance to a wide variety of aquatic play features, including everything from waterslides and lazy rivers to activity pools, mushroom sprays, splash pads and wave pools. The tremendous popularity of waterparks with unique interactive water features has even sparked interest from residential pool owners. When it comes to size, these play features can be scaled back not only for smaller public pool installations, but also for residential applications.

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