Month: March 2018

Creative Pool Designs

When it’s decided to build a pool, one of the most important issues that must be taken into account is what form the installation will take. There are some guidelines that can help with making the decision and achieve the best results, both aesthetically and functionally.

In general, experts recommend that the pool does not occupy more than 30% of the surface of the garden or space in which we will build it. At the other extreme, it is also not advisable for the pool to occupy less than 20% of the available space.

Once the dimensions are defined, it is time to select the shape. One of the most common is rectangular. The straight lines allow to take better advantage of the interior of the pool and facilitate the construction process. Many owners choose to combine quadrangular shapes and create pools with simple but very elegant lines, such as an L shape.

The use of curved lines is another popular option. Completely round, oval or kidney-shaped pools are somewhat more complicated to build than rectangular pools but can work very well in certain spaces. Also, from the combination of curves with straight lines can arise very interesting ideas.

However, some owners have wanted to move away from traditional forms and have given free rein to their creativity. Next, we present you five swimming pools with peculiar forms: for romantics, lovers of music and animals … Would you dare with an original form or prefer the more traditional options?

Images: Fluidra Cool Pool 

Tips for lighting a residential pool

Do you know that a poorly designed lighting system can also make a swimming pool unsafe? Would you like to discover how to illuminate it so that the games of light in the water made it even more spectacular? Do you know what the latest trends are? Halogen or LED spotlights? We give you the answers!

A pool with a good lighting design is more secure and efficient

Before lighting the pool, we recommend studying which spaces can be dangerous in the dark. Stairs, edges, benches or unevenness must always be visible, even in the darkest night. Study the design of the pool, detect all these areas and assess the possibility of placing lighting with higher light intensities and specially designed for small spaces.

A properly lit pool is respectful of the environment

Faced with halogen lights, the latest designs in LED underwater lights prevent environmental light pollution and achieve greater energy efficiency.

Precisely because of its innovation, functionality and ecological respect, the SLX Multicolour LED Pool and Spa Lights range has become a world reference in pool lighting as it encompasses features not found in other lights. Specifically, the SLX Multicolour Pool and Spa Lights is oriented towards the background to avoid causing light pollution outside. In addition, this model improves luminous efficiency by 20% compared to the most common market solutions.

The latest trends allow control of remote lights

Once a safe and efficient lighting has been achieved, it is time to think about how to make it even more spectacular! The connected pools already make it possible to control the colour of the lights from a distance. The SLX Multicolour LED Pool and Spa lights are compatible with Connect 10, Touchscreen and Internet Gateway – making your pool easy to control and use.

The latest trend in pool lighting is to create starry skies through lighting. We can not think of a more spectacular lighting than the sky itself for the bottom of your pool!

Urban lake in Taiwan

The Dutch architecture studio MVRDV  will design a new large urban lake in the centre of the Taiwanese city of Tainan. The project will entail the demolition of the China-Town shopping centre, a complex built in 1983 and on which it proposes an urgent replacement due to its poor architectural quality.

This decaying construction is no longer what it was during the time of expansion of the fourth most populous city in the Republic of China and today it is known as the “rotten tooth” of Tainan. The team of urbanists The Urbanist Collective,  the study of local architecture LLJ Architects and Landscapers Progressive Environmental, among others, make up the team with the prestigious Central European architects have been selected in the competition organized by the municipal administration competition.

The winning proposal is based mainly on the incorporation of an attractive connection axis between the city and the seafront. Thanks to this green corridor, this side of Tainan will be transformed into a more pleasant area for the pedestrian, with a much more important presence of green areas despite being an area of great commercial activity.

The idea of the team formed by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries also foresees the incorporation of new shops and restaurants, as well as new public swimming pools. The trees will also give a new vegetable and friendly image to the area. The new water channel will be flanked by sand dunes and various street furniture. The architects seek to recover the view once had this area of the city and, years ago, was hidden by the rough mall.

According to the authors, the design of the new public spaces is inspired by the natural lagoon that existed in Taiwan before the expansion of the city and that drove the development of the local fishing industry. This winning scheme will become an important stimulus for the regeneration of the district thanks to the promotion of the use of public spaces and the creation of a cohesive urban language.

Pool Heating – extend your swimming season into winter

Pool Heating – extend your swimming season into winter.

The summer days begin to end, the days get cooler and shorter –  however, this does not mean that the days in the garden, inside the pool, must end in the month of March in Australia. Discover how to raise the temperature of your pool in an economical and environmentally friendly way and extend your swimming season all year long.

The Inverter heat pumps achieve a pleasant water temperature and are essential to heat the pool in the new bathing season. With a balanced consumption and a sustainable energy expenditure, this technology allows you to enjoy the bath even when the outside temperature is getting colder.

The pool heating with inverter technology is an effective and economical way to heat water allowing save up to 30% compared with conventional heat pumps. Inverter heat pumps are silent, ecological and low consumption devices. Inverter pumps can be used during all seasons. Although they become perfect options to heat the water of the pool in winter (because they work with outside temperatures of up to -10 degrees and have been specially designed to work in this environment) they can also be regulated to cool the water during the summer.

Inverter models are able to be controlled remotely through the HeatPumpGo App giving you wireless control of your pool. Monitor and set your pool’s temperature even if you’re away on a business trip or holiday through your home’s Wi-Fi, with the optional WiFi module (sold separately). With the HeatPumpGO app (available for Android and iOS devices), your pool temperature will always be right at your fingertips wherever you are!

Efficient and sustainable technology

Inverter pumps are adjustable and allow three modes of operation: Powerful, Smart & Quiet. In particular, this last function is the most discreet to enjoy the pool in the silence of the night; is able to work between 40 dB and 42 dB, the sound level of a library.

AstralPool Heat Pumps are an environmentally friendly option to heat your pool. Operating on a similar principle to your refrigerator or air conditioner, Heat Pumps use environmentally friendly refrigerant gas that extracts the latent heat from the air and transfers this heat into the pool water. A nearly silent compressor moves the refrigerant gas through a coil (called evaporator) through which air is forced and collects heat from the surrounding atmosphere. The now superheated refrigerant gas then passes through a titanium heat exchanger (called a condenser) which transfers the heat into the pool water and the cycle starts again.

So in fact, the power used by the heat pump does not create any heat, it is simply used to compress and move the refrigerant gas through the evaporator and condenser to collect and transfer heat from the atmosphere into your pool water. For every 1 kW of electricity consumed, AstralPool Heat Pumps will collect up to 13 kW of heat from the atmosphere. Sunshine is not necessary and your Heat Pump will continue to heat your pool in air temperatures as low as 7 degrees. So even if the nights are cold, or the days leading up to the weekend are cool, your AstralPool Heat Pump can heat and maintain your pool water temperature at a comfortable swimming temperature.

To assist with deciding with the heating pump that would best suit your needs, on the AstralPool website you will be able to access the heat pump calculator that will allow you to find the solution that best suits the specific size of the pool and desired temperature of the pool. The search engine offers a selection of heat pumps or electric heaters that will achieve the best efficiency based on this data. For more information head to www.astralpool.com.au/heatpumpsizingguide

If you have any questions and interested in getting this technology today, contact us today – head to www.astralpool.com.au/locateadealer to find the nearest Astralpool Dealer.

A pool in the countryside of Puglia

The architecture of the past is perfectly recognised in this hotel establishment located a few kilometres from Ostuni, the white city of Brindisi, in the heart of the Puglia countryside. Andrew Trotter designed, during a three-year process to delve into the heart of local traditions, this luminous box where everything develops around a patio. Once inside, it surprises its fantastic swimming pool that is inserted in a landscape planted with impressive olive trees of 500 years of antiquity.

Thick walls, vaulted ceilings, stone floors and whitewashed walls. Thus the spaces remain fresh during the hottest days of the year. The architectural details are so simple, that space is ideal to get lost and to relax in every corner without stridency. This hotel has six rooms of 24 to 45 square meters and all of them have a private garden or a private terrace with views of the countryside.

Air conditioning is rarely used in this construction; the solar panels provide enough energy to illuminate and heat the building. The hotel farm has its own water source: its well provides fresh water of constant flow to cover all needs.

Masseria Moroseta has been built to zero kilometre standards, something that characterizes all architectural exercises that respect the environment, by being consistent with this philosophy, all food and beverages offered at the hotel are grown by the owners themselves or purchased from local farmers, producers and artisans. Continue reading “A pool in the countryside of Puglia”