Posted on: February 18, 2011

The Next Generation of Swimming Pools

Free-form natural swimming pools are quickly and calmly taking over the backyard, connecting with the surrounding gardens like no pool before

By Margraret Littman
CTW Features

Your swimming pool, be it the one next to your deck or the one in your imagination, is supposed to be a backyard oasis. An oasis is intended to be a place to escape from work and sweltering weather. But if your pool is like many built in the last several decades, it likely looks less like an oasis and more like a concrete trough with a blue-tiled bottom.

That turquoise rectangle may date your outdoor décor as much as those 1970s avocado appliances that once made your kitchen look passé. As is the case with home décor and fashion, the hot trend in swimming pools can be summed up in one word: natural. Lucas Congdon, president of Sarasota, Fla.-based Lucas Lagoons Inc., says “natural is very much in.” In fact, designers say the majority of high-end swimming pools installed today have some “organic” element to them, whether that element is the use of natural rock and stone, greenery planted in the water, or a free-form shape.

In addition to new construction, existing pools also can be retrofitted for a 21st-century natural look. Congdon estimates that between 60 percent to 75 percent of his work is rehabbing existing swimming pools.

Congdon and other landscape architects, designers and contractors are increasingly creating free-form swimming pools that are integrated with the surrounding gardens. “I like to make the yard an extension of the house, turn it into living space outside, and the pool is part of that,” Congdon says.

These custom-built pools can evoke the great outdoors in all its glory. Want the reedy sea grasses of the East Coast? No problem. A shallow-end beach, complete with sandy floor, is possible. Want to feel like you are swimming in the ocean rather in a small pool? Infinity pools blur the horizon, making it look like your pool goes on for miles. Grand waterfalls, small, intimate hot springs, coral reefs, and believe or not, a fire pit, are possible.

“Pool building is so advanced these days that there isn’t anything they cannot do,” says Justin Cave, host of HGTV’s “Ground Breakers” and owner of Sierra Consulting, an Atlanta-area landscaping firm.

All 13 of the backyards being overhauled on “Ground Breakers” include swimming pools. While Cave says kidney-shaped swimming pools are the most popular, pools can be built to fit almost any lot shape and house plan, mimicking Mother Nature’s ponds, lagoons and swimming holes. In fact, many designers prefer to call their man-made creations lagoons or swimming ponds to help distinguish them from the more traditional pool.

“The natural, free-form pool is all about the materials,” Cave says.

To begin to create the look of your dreams, the first question to ask is whether to use real rock or faux stone. For Congdon, it isn’t even a question; he goes for real rock all the time. He feels that faux rock doesn’t stand the test of time as well. It can fade and chip in as little as two years, making the big investment look dated more quickly. At Lucas Lagoons he hires old-world-style stone-masons to find rock that matches the look the homeowner wants, such as going to Kentucky for indigenous rock for one Florida homeowner who wanted to be reminded of his native Kentucky hill country.

Congdon developed a system to make “coping,” the material that covers the circumference edge of the pool where the deck and the pool meet, out of real rock. He hollows out triangular pieces of rock to give a natural appearance to the man-made elements of the pool.

Cave has what he calls “many little tricks” for incorporating real rock into swimming-pool design, of which one of his favorites of which is the pebble-bottom floor.

Other contractors believe that using natural rock increases the cost of a project significantly, once you factor in both the cost of going to a quarry to acquire the rock and the fact that its increased weight requires a larger team to install it. Ron Smith, a California landscape contractor whose work has been featured on HGTV’s outdoor rehab show, “Get Out, Way Out!,” is impressed by man-made rock created by going out into nature and making molds of boulders and other wilderness finds, and then using those molds to build replicas from synthetic materials.

Pine Hall Brick, Winston-Salem, N.C., has seen an increased use in pavers made from North Carolina and Georgia clay for patios surrounding swimming pools. Because of the bricks’ lighter color and the natural origin, they create a less-jarring visual border to the pool than concrete or a wood deck.

No matter the type of landscaping, it is the plants that are the essential finishing touches. “You never see rocks in nature that are just rocks without plants,” Congdon says. Depending on the desired look and the climate, these range from sea grasses in a beach area to tall palm trees that can provide shade during a hot day. (Most natural pools use an ionization system to control algae, as opposed to chlorination, so plants can survive, but the water can still be bacteria-free. However, plants must be salt-tolerant in order to thrive in the splash-heavy environment.)

“You can give it a natural free-form look and still have a formal look,” Cave says. “It does not have to look like you are in a jungle.”

One particular design, the beach entry, appeals both to those with young children – because it creates gentle shallow areas – as well as those whose kids have flown the nest. Like many other features of natural pools, the beach entry lends itself to grown-up entertaining – it is much more festive to gather ’round the beach than a concrete staircase. Congdon says many of his empty-nester clients will pull up beach chairs and relax in the shallow end waters.

“That old, ugly pool becomes a lot nicer for people to use when it fits in with the landscape,” Smith says.

But just because these custom pools have high price tags and are often thought of as more grown-up, it doesn’t mean that natural pools can’t be fun. Cave has installed “dive rocks,” which are essentially large boulders that can be used as a diving board without breaking up the pleasant view like a traditional diving board would.

And Congdon breaks his no-fake-materials rule for one element: water slides. He’ll build a grotto out of real rock, then use synthetic materials and paint to carve out a “stream” that functions as a slide.

“It is really nice for me when people tell me that they feel like they can use their pool again,” he adds. “They talk about entertaining and how the lagoon is part of the atmosphere. But adults are just big kids, they want to have fun.”

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