By Chris Gregory
Innovation plays an integral role, but a pool designer and builder who can deliver forward thinking is also required. Innovation in North America’s pool industry has certainly become more refined and impressive over the past decade. The industry has seen projects become more desirable, structurally sound, and diversely designed, while equipment become more energy efficient, impressive, and easy to use.
This does not even take into account the top-notch designs and builds, overwhelming beauty, and attention to detail which is found on some pools today. In fact, there are many extraordinary and innovative features currently available. These include: moving pool floors, sunken living rooms with fire pits in the pool, cantilever decks on water walls, acrylic windows, lazy rivers, equipment bunkers, and two-storey islands. Tanning ledges and Baja shelves are two of the most common upgrades on pools today.
To see some of these exceptional upgrades and innovation in pool design, one can look to a few companies based out of the U.K. and southwestern U.S.
The sunken living room and the floating island
One impressive, innovative feature which can be incorporated into a pool design is a floating island and sunken room. These can be accessed either from the deck or a series of floating stones creating a walkway.
The building practices of the company will dictate how the design will be created and built. Integrating various rooms in and around the water creates a more interactive venue with multiple views that are stunning, especially where infinity edge detail is concerned.
