Swimming Pool Design Ideas

About Swimming Pool Design Ideas Android App

A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or paddling pool is a structure designed to hold water to enable swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built above ground (as a freestanding construction or as part of a building or other larger structure), and are also a standard feature aboard ocean liners and cruise ships. In-ground pools are most commonly constructed from materials such as concrete, natural stone, metal, plastic or fiberglass, and can be of a custom size and shape or built to a standardized size, the largest of which is the Olympic-size swimming pool.

Dimensions

- Length: Most pools in the world are measured in meters, but in the United States pools are often measured in feet and yards. In the UK most pools are calibrated in meters, but older pools measured in yards still exist. In the US, pools tend to either be 25 yards (SCY-short course yards), 25 meters (SCM-short course metres) or 50 meters (long course). US high schools and the NCAA conduct short course (25 yards) competition. There are also many pools 33⅓ m long so that 3 lengths = 100 m. This pool dimension is commonly used to accommodate water polo.
USA Swimming (USA-S) swims in both metric and non-metric pools. However, the international standard meters and world records are only recognized when swum in 50 m pools (or 25 m for short course) but 25-yard pools are very common in the US. In general, the shorter the pool, the faster the time for the same distance, since the swimmer gains speed from pushing off the wall after each turn at the end of the pool.

- Width: Most European pools are between 10 m and 50 m wide.

- Depth: The depth of a swimming pool depends on the purpose of the pool, and whether it is open to the public or strictly for private use. If it is a private casual, relaxing pool, it may go from 1.0 to 2.0 m (3.3 to 6.6 ft) deep. If it is a public pool designed for diving, it may slope from 3.0 to 5.5 m (10 to 18 ft) in the deep end. A children's play pool may be from 0.3 to 1.2 m (1 to 4 ft) deep.

Types

- Private pools
Private pools are usually smaller than public pools, on average 3.7 m × 7.3 m (12 ft × 24 ft) to 6.1 m × 12.2 m (20 ft × 40 ft) whereas public pools usually start at 24 m (80 ft).

- Children's pools
Inexpensive temporary polyvinyl chloride pools can be bought in supermarkets and taken down after summer. They are used mostly outdoors in yards, are typically shallow, and often their sides are inflated with air to stay rigid. When finished, the water and air can be let out and this type of pool can be folded up for convenient storage.

- Public pools
Tooting Bec Lido, in South London
Public pools are often part of a larger leisure center or recreational complex. These centers often have more than one pool, such as an indoor heated pool, an outdoor (chlorinated, saltwater or ozonated) pool which may be heated or unheated, a shallower children's pool, and a paddling pool for toddlers and infants. There may also be a sauna and one or more hot tubs or spa pools.

- Infinity pools
An infinity edge pool (also named negative edge or vanishing edge pool) is a swimming pool which produces a visual effect of water extending to the horizon, vanishing, or extending to "infinity". Often, the water appears to fall into an ocean, lake, bay, or another similar body of water. The illusion is most effective whenever there is a significant change in elevation, though having a natural body of water on the horizon is not a limiting factor.

- Natural pools and ponds
Natural pools were developed in central and western Europe in the early and mid-1980s by designers and landscape architects with environmental concerns. They have recently been growing in popularity as an alternative to traditional swimming pools.