16' x 32' vinyl-lined pool with Roman ends. Photo Credit - Anne Cannon Photography

Photography by Juliana Franco

Koi pond with bronze statue, Aquarius and Dale Chihuly inspired floating glass spheres, Cleopatra bench, champion koi collection.

Alan Blakely

Symmetrically two lounge chairs are angled on either side of the pool with centered floral arrangement of modern black urns and round boxwood and white hydrangea. Photographer: Darren Setlow

Traditional swimming pool remodel Photos by Jannus Studios

Location: Atlanta, Georgia - Historical Inman Park Scope: This home was a new home we developed and built in Atlanta, GA. The pool's water feature is centered on the 12' slider door in the living room to bring the sound of the sheer falls into the home. The pool is a black plaster, polished aggregate pool. It is zero entry as well with a umbrella holder in the pool so it can be used to place chairs in for lounging. High performance / green building certifications: EPA Energy Star Certified Home, EarthCraft Certified Home - Gold, NGBS Green Certified Home - Gold, Department of Energy Net Zero Ready Home, GA Power Earthcents Home, EPA WaterSense Certified Home Builder/Developer: Heirloom Design Build Architect: Jones Pierce Interior Design/Decorator: Heirloom Design Build Photo Credit: D. F. Radlmann www.heirloomdesignbuild.com

Jonathan Beckerman

This Zen Water Feature With Small Pond in Boca Raton, Florida is the perfect highlight of a backyard oasis retreat!

Andrew Pogue Photography

Featured in the November 2008 issue of Phoenix Home & Garden, this "magnificently modern" home is actually a suburban loft located in Arcadia, a neighborhood formerly occupied by groves of orange and grapefruit trees in Phoenix, Arizona. The home, designed by architect C.P. Drewett, offers breathtaking views of Camelback Mountain from the entire main floor, guest house, and pool area. These main areas "loft" over a basement level featuring 4 bedrooms, a guest room, and a kids' den. Features of the house include white-oak ceilings, exposed steel trusses, Eucalyptus-veneer cabinetry, honed Pompignon limestone, concrete, granite, and stainless steel countertops. The owners also enlisted the help of Interior Designer Sharon Fannin. The project was built by Sonora West Development of Scottsdale, AZ.

This project, completed for a client in Sugar Land, Texas, was authorized by the homeowner and the architect and was done in conjunction with the efforts of the builder. Its minimalist approach to vegetation, its custom swimming pool design, and its unique hardscapes offer the reader an excellent example of contemporary landscape design. There were a lot of challenges to designing a pool that worked with the architecture of the home and fit the available space in the back yard. To understand the unique nature of the pool, we have to take a closer look at the home. The house features a number of curved facades and unique angles. Instead of a traditional back porch, it features a custom stonework patio and an outdoor kitchen. The pool is elevated above the shrub palette to make it level with the floor of the house. This compensates for the drop in elevation on the way to a lake that is located just beyond the property line. The back patio is made from sandstone laid over a concrete base. It double functions as a deck and as a floor of the summer kitchen that leads straight to the water’s edge. Such a fusion of human architecture with natural elements is common in contemporary landscape design. It is further reinforced by custom water jets built along the patio’s edge using a special construction technique. Our design team predetermined the location of each stone. Intersections of the stones were marked, and the pipes which eventually fed the jets were installed before setting the stone in place. This creates the very powerful illusion that the water is springing from the stone itself. It is perhaps the most effective method of extending the geometry of manmade forms into the natural world beyond as if to establish the supremacy of mind over the raw elements of nature. To continue the home’s architecture, we had to build the pool in a rectilinear shape with a decidedly curved edge that reflected the unique facades of the home. This enables the pool to better connect with the landscape as it gently arcs through the vegetation. This works to establish the preeminence of home architecture over the entire yard. This is a common and very powerful theme found in most contemporary landscape designs. Guests standing on the back patio get the sense that the design of the home itself has been extended infinitely into the yard—making it appear as though it is an actual part of the home. The top of the coping slopes down to the water at a 45 degree angle, creating a marked aesthetic that mirrors the grade of the yard that slopes toward the lake in the distance. This is an example of curved facades and walkway surfaces. The upper story and windows overhang the front wall and the contemporary style front door. We accented the scene with a small birch tree and low growth boxwood shrubs, dwarf yaupon, agapanthus, and nandina. We also planted Bermuda grass, which looks very good cut very short and retains its color. Bermuda grass is often used in contemporary landscape design to line stone walkways and to contemplate small shrubs.

Transitional standard rectangular pool with fountain features on stone retaining wall.

Hidden to the side of this gorgeous house remodeled after it got destroyed by Hurricane Harvey is this peaceful and beautiful small lap pool with raised ledger stone wall and Magic Bowls (no-fire water feature.)