Standing columns, swim-up seating – water design can say a lot

For Kirk Bianchi, great pool design is about integrating the water’s shape with the architecture of the home. He says this idea may still be forward thinking when it comes to pool design, but that when people want their outdoor space to flow seamlessly with their home’s design they are more likely to call a pool designer than to try to design a pool themselves.

For Kirk Bianchi, great pool design is about integrating the water’s shape with the architecture of the home.

He says this idea may still be forward thinking when it comes to pool design, but that when people want their outdoor space to flow seamlessly with their home’s design they are more likely to call a pool designer than to try to design a pool themselves.

Bianchi calls himself an “architectural scope designer” and believes the pool needs to be subject to the design of the home, and that it’s about more than the body of water itself, but about the landscape and “hardscape” that surrounds it.

“When you design everything around the pool first it makes sense,” he says. “Then the pool’s not an imposition.”

One of his favorite projects was one he built on a hillside in Scottsdale in 1999. He was able to get involved with the project as the home was being constructed and designed, not just the pool but the hardscape — the patio, walkway and planters — leading from the parking area to the front door (slideshow).

To get to the entrance of the home, you must navigate the pool’s edge.

“Everything from the gate is about the experience,” says Bianchi. “You don’t get everything all at once. There’s a deliberate sequence from the moment you arrive.”

“There’s a cadence to your steps. A musical approach. The step, step, flat of the stairs. When you open the gate you see the inner courtyard, the curved stairs to the front door. It’s about the patio-pool interaction.”

WATER FEATURES

Not every pool can be custom-designed with such detail, but there are more options available to East Valley homeowners when it comes to great pool design.

What do homeowners want? They want their pools to maximize recreation and provide a whole other area of the home in which to socialize.

Out are diving pools, with their limited athletic function.

In are pools with swim-up bars and built-in seating. While they won’t all have 25-foot slate-faced towers like Bianchi’s creation, more homeowners are including water features within the pool.

In terms of style, Kim Levaggi, senior design consultant with Shasta Pools and Spas, says every designer has a different opinion on what’s hot now. The clients he works with are choosing more formal, straight-lined pools.

“With some of the builders I work with, Toll Brothers for example, the Tuscan, Mediterranean style, with Old World look, is in and the more formal pools look great,” he says.

“A lot of it is dependent on the style of the home.”

Natural lagoon pools are still popular, particularly with people moving from the Midwest and East Coast who are used to rectangular and round pools. And sometimes they’re choosing above-ground pools, says Levaggi.

Diving pools aren’t as hip as they once were. With smaller yards, fitting a 21-foot diving bowl is a squeeze, and because the deep portion of the pool is so large, the style is not conducive to playing.

Instead, homeowners are selecting “play pools,” which typically start out at 3 feet deep, then go to 5 feet deep and back to 4 feet deep at the other end.

“They’re great for families who want to play volleyball, basketball or whatever,” says Levaggi.

Slides also aren’t as popular as they once were, he says, adding “they’re not aesthetically pleasing for such an investment in your backyard.”

Instead, splash-downs, where a white plume of water shoots above the pool’s surface, are en vogue.

“We sell a lot of those,” says Levaggi. “They are placed on a large step, they look great and kids love to play on those.”

Flagstone is still popular around the pool, and you’ll find cantera and travertine as well. But what’s new? Pavers are hot, despite the heat they hold.

Says Levaggi: “People are forgoing functionality for aesthetic.”

And they’re going customized, with options available for any taste or desired use.

“Just about anything,” he says, “is doable.”