Falling water has a soothing, almost mind-massaging, effect to your senses. In pool design, whether it be a spillover, a fountain, or a deck jet, flowing water introduces a powerful audible effect that can drown out unwanted noise pollution—whether it be a nearby street, a next-door neighbor or a teenage son with an affinity for ‘new age rock’. Because of the noise, flowing water also allows for that private conversation with your significant other to remain, well, private. From an aesthetic point of view, this feature also introduces a three-dimensional element to your pool design by taking an otherwise 2-dimensional object, a flat pool or spa, and raising a piece of it vertically, thereby creating a totally different visual effect—one that will draw in the eye and offer solace after a long Sunshine-state day.
Spillovers
Spillovers come in many shapes and sizes – from simple spa-to-pool gentle, sheet flow designs that effortlessly slice into your pool’s surface water to elevated rushing water ones that carve into the pool like a torrential waterfall. Subsequent applications of this falling water are not to be overlooked as they often become a magnet, when the design allows, for children and grown-ups alike – basking in Florida’s sun while enjoying the cooling effect of splashing water over their skin. Additional ‘window dressing’ with cleverly placed lighting introduces a night element that adorns your pool like a flowing gown on a hopeful bride beneath a starlit night.
Fountains
Fountains of all shapes and sizes are largely overlooked as options for the modern pool. Whereas spillovers are a byproduct of a spa, a fountain has an application that architects use to target the three-dimensional aspect of your pool design, independent of any necessary functional application. As simple as a wall or ledge with rushing water escaping into the depths of the pool to more complex, multi-level features that can fall multiple times or splash onto an adjacent ledge or rock, these accessories will elevate both you and your guests’ experience with your new pool. To the extent a multi-tier garden fountain is often found in the secrecy of your tucked-away private garden, in the pool, this feature has at its disposal an endless reservoir of water thus eliminating its weakest and most dreaded chore – daily filling beneath a hot temperate sun.
Natural Elements
Whereas outdoor lighting is often fixed and steady on an object, fire introduces the illumination aspects of forced lighting but with a broken and unpredictable flow—particularly at ‘sunset thirty’ and into the night. Fire and water, two antagonists in the bounds of natural elements, harmoniously serve out a visual stimulation unmatched in the design world, capable of an almost hypnotizing effect. Two elevated, stainless-steel flowing fountains flanking your pool’s left and rightmost extreme corners with fire licking the base of a custom-cut object, a Fleur de Lis for example, centered and affixed to the structures, will delight the eyes and ears for years and years to come. And yes, as you exhale while sipping a fermented beverage alongside your significant other, you will think to yourself, “why didn’t I do this years ago”.
