Let It Flow
The owners of this pool on the Intracoastal Waterway in Nokomis faced a dilemma—literally. Opposite their home is Snake Island, a popular party spot for boaters. To block the noise, Colton Gustin of AquaTech Pools GC designed a water feature on the vanishing edge (not shown here) that can go from a trickle to a massive 800-gallon-per-minute flow. “It drowns out all the music,” he says. Also not shown is the 14-inch-thick wall that creates the vanishing edge; it’s made of solid black glass. It was a Silver Award-winner for AquaTech.
Freeform Fun
Coast to Coast Pools earned a Bronze Award for this freeform pool chock-full of fun extras that it created for a Todd Johnston Homes-built residence in The Oaks. The pool has a sloping beach entry instead of stairs, a spa and elevated firepit. Two deck jets hidden among foliage in a planter next to the firepit shoot water into the air and back down into the pool. Water quality is enhanced with a state-of-the-art Paramount UV light and ozonator along with a Pentair Intellichlor Salt System. Pool lights are programmable into seven different colorways. (Red, white and blue for the Fourth of July, anyone?) And an automation system lets the homeowner see and control the pool via cell phone from anywhere in the world. They can turn on the spa from a restaurant, for example, and it will be toasty warm and ready to enjoy when they return home.
Shock Factor
AquaTech’s Gustin had an unusual mandate for this West of Trail project: a constantly hot spa and a constantly cold pool (at a fairly deep five feet) so the client can quickly jump from one to the other in preparation for a trek on Mount Everest. “She wanted the shock treatment,” says Gustin. The client likes to entertain, too, so behind the spa is a long, linear fire pit and a roomy covered cabana, as well as a bar to the right of the pool. Laminar jets on either side of the pool add drama; its colors are changeable by cell phone. The pool won a Silver Award from the Florida Swimming Pool Association.
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