Taking the plunge

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Brent Reid, designer for Hydrolite Leisure.

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Michael de Wet, landscape architect for 2nd Nature.

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Patio area of Al Barari show home.

Swimming pool design is proving to be big business AS Developers and private owners splash out on spectacular features to enhance properties. Design experts Brent Reid and Michael de Wet reveal the concept behind modern swimming pools.

Back as far as 2,500BC swimming pools were built for the sole purpose of sport and recreation. At this time, however, pools were lined with bricks and covered with a tar-based sealant.

Thanks to modern technology, new and improved methods are now used to create watertight, durable swimming pools, which aim to create a centre point of beauty and relaxation.

A growing fascination with new shapes, sizes and forms of pools has led to the popularity of a number of relatively affordable and versatile options.

These include gunite, a mixture of cement, sand and water sprayed onto a reinforcing frame, and fibreglass which is pre-moulded and can be installed directly into the ground.

Liner pools, a waterproof membrane of PVC held in place against concrete walls, are often used to meet the demand for low-cost pools in schools and communities as they are inexpensive compared to other finishes, such as tiles.

Despite a shorter life expectancy than other materials, they are more economical to maintain and replace. However, there is far more to be taken into account when designing a swimming pool.

"Generally, in the gardens we do, the pool is the biggest outlay so it's got to be a feature as well as usable," says Brent Reid, designer at Hydrolite Leisure which designs pools and landscapes.

"What the client is looking for is shape, size, position and the feel of the pool. You've got to look at that over the whole garden as well as the architecture of the house," says Reid.

Michael de Wet, senior landscape architect for 2nd Nature, agrees, "It's an extension of the expression of the house," he says, speaking of his current project with Al Barari, an elite residence surrounded by botanical gardens.

"Al Barari caters for a number of things from a landscape point of view," continues de Wet, "Within the boundary walls what we've tried to do is express the control of man over nature. There are very strong architectural statements throughout the gardens."

The process begins when designers meet clients to discuss what they are looking for, and from this the brief is formed. Over the course of a few days, the designer will create a concept for the garden, which includes a detailed plan with photographs and product samples.

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