London Swimming Pool Company on The Art of Bespoke Pools
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Eighty three per cent of architects who took part in our recent luxury pools survey said that keeping updated on pool design trends is important to enable them to advise clients on their options.
London Swimming Pool Company is London’s premier luxury pool designer and has more than 50 pool and spa awards. We handle any level of building complexity, ensuring that pools blend perfectly in different settings, including upscale residences, luxury hotels, private schools and private hospitals. We have worked with a diversity of architects, providing creative inspiration, technical skill and insight into the latest design and technological trends. As our industry innovates we ensure that architects have their finger on the pulse, not only through our work with them but through CPD workshops.
Breaking boundaries are ambitious sky-high pools, for instance, Singapore’s Sky Habit Apartments complex will have a pool suspended between two buildings 100 metres above ground and a high-rise development in Houston, Texas has a partially transparent pool built 152 metres above ground, and swimmers can see 40 storeys of the building beneath them!
While our clients are not looking for such outlandish concepts, we are building more roof top spas and much larger pools, some located in luxury tower blocks, and the designs incorporate sumptuous materials such as gold infused tiles, crystal encrusted waterfalls and marbling. Typically clients want timeless designs that will not date over time, as well as individuality so they can stamp their personality on the pool to reflect their lifestyles.
It is easy to think that a luxury pool is about the pool alone, but it is also about the ambience of the space where the pool is to be built. As designers, we want to understand the feeling that clients want to achieve when they enter that space so that we can evoke those feelings for them. That requires a high level of creativity and attention to detail in the overall design. Get this right and you have a stunning pool and a delighted client.
Underwater windows are a spectacular way to differentiate a pool. Once prohibitively expensive, underwater windows are now in vogue and much more accessible to a wider audience. They are opulent and stylish and it is quite mesmerising watching bathers swimming underwater. Underwater windows owe much of their recent popularity to the increasing availability of acrylic Plexiglas and its ability to fit almost any shape or space. They have also proven popular in the commercial sector because swimming instructors and choreographers of synchronised swimming teams can observe and coach learners more effectively.
Moving floors have become highly desirable. People have really begun to embrace the concept and benefit of a multi-use pool area and we have seen a 50% increase in enquiries. If space is limited or the client prefers not to devote space to the pool permanently, a moving floor is an elegant solution. At the touch of a button, clients can raise the floor and cover the pool completely. The moving floor complements the surrounding area and being robust, can be walked on safely, as a normal floor. Furthermore, a moving floor allows a client to set different water depths for swimmers, such as a shallow pool for young children.
We are seeing a growing desire for stainless steel pools. The demand is being driven by the material’s beauty, the flexibility of design offered, its durability and sustainability concerns. Stainless steel pools can be designed in a wide variety of shapes and sizes and there is an increasing trend towards long and narrow pools, often with wellness and relaxation features such as massage benches and loungers incorporated. Being lighter in weight than concrete, stainless steel is particularly attractive for installations such as roof garden pools, and the build time tends to be shorter, enabling clients to have their pool sooner. Stainless steel pools can grace traditional and contemporary architecture equally well and complements most materials, especially glass.
Another growing trend is installing counter-current units in pools. They generate a current that mimics that of a river, strong enough to swim against, enabling swimmers to use it for serious training, improving swimming technique, therapeutic exercise/relaxation or just good fun. The strength of the current is controlled by the client, who can set it to match the needs of swimmers. Some clients find it an excellent way of ‘extending’ a pool where space restrictions exist.
A luxury pool performs superbly because of the quality of the plantroom so the technical design and the equipment used are paramount. This means choosing modern energy efficient plant including variable speed pumps and high grade filtration such as Activated Filter Media, rather than simply defaulting to more commonly used filters. The plant equipment specified will depend upon the type and size of pool and how it will be used. Get the aesthetics and technical ingredients right and clients will have an exceptional pool and experience with the project team.
