Artfully staged

The splashing waterfall provides an atmospheric background noise. Additional artistic highlights are also set by the LEDs in the stream, which impressively emphasize the straight lines of the entire system in the dark with their white light.

When the builder speaks of her new pool area, she starts to gush: "Ideally, the water here starts of sparkling as early as in the morning. It's like being by the sea." Together with her husband, she enjoys her box seat on the in-house terrace, which extends the living area on the ground floor of the villa out to the sunny spots. At first glance, the tidy architecture of the facility caught the eye, which is characterized by clear lines and structures and has an almost puristic effect, without sacrificing refined details. The individual architectural elements of villa, pool, terrace and lawn are symmetrically arranged to one another. Everything looks tidy and well-structured. A stream with a waterfall runs parallel to the long side of the residential building and flows into the large basin of the pool. This is located at the head of the terrace at a right angle to the stream, so that almost the entire living area of the slightly elevated terrace is surrounded by water. From here, the family can let their gaze wander over the water into the garden.

Although it is separated from the living area by the idyllic stream, the children, for example, can easily reach the playground on the other side on foot via four one-by-one meter stepping stones in the middle of the stream. Just like the flat curb stones of the stream niche and the adjacent pool, they are made of dark natural stone. Like a collar, this projects over the edge of the stream and pool by two to three centimeters and in this way conceals the water's edges. This allows the water surfaces to blend seamlessly into the harmonious overall picture of the facility. A concrete pool was already in place where the pool is located before the entire layout was completely rebuilt. However, its liner had aged and was therefore no longer a bright blue as it was originally, so the owner wanted to replace it. Subsequent talks between him and the pool builder, however, revealed further wishes for new lights and a counter-current system. As a result, the pool builder placed a "D-Line" fiberglass skimmer pool with pre-installed technology into the concrete bed of the old pool. "This seemed overall cheaper than upgrading the old pool," explains Johannes Berenz, site manager and managing director of the contracted pool building company.

To save energy, the pool water cycle is separated from the stream. A concealed drain under the last stepping stone and a barely visible sheet steel dam keep the unheated water of the stream away from the swimming pool. In the pool, on the other hand, an energy-efficient air-water heat pump heats the water to a comfortable bathing temperature of 28 degrees Celsius. Other attractions of the system include the sophisticated lighting concept. As soon as it is dark, the white light from light-emitting diodes emphasizes the outlines of the stream and the square stepping stones. Likewise, two powerful 300-watt lights make the pool a real eye-catcher over a length of ten meters and a width of 4.70 meters. By illuminating the water, the pool appears in a shimmering turquoise. The overall work of art is thus complete: colors, light and architecture are in harmonious unison, presenting the pool in the garden to great effect – just as the builder had envisioned it prior to the start of construction based on a computer animation.

Source: Schwimmbad und Sauna 3/4 2011