A southern California love affair that knows no bounds
And on the left coast, the weekend's edition of The Los Angeles Times Magazine is dedicated to the swimming pools. (No photos in the online version... get with it, LA Times.) Among the articles are:Fly over L.A., and you see them—mile after liquid mile of dots and squares pressed like jewels into the landscape. By the latest count from the American Water Works Assn., between half a million and 700,000 pools adjoin single-family homes in Southern California. And yet as suited as they are to our hot, dry climate, they weren't always so common here.
Link: LA Times
On The Edge: Architect William Hefner Designs a Lap Pool With an Infinite View
This Palos Verdes Estates pool overlooking Malaga Cove does double duty. Not only is it used for exercise, but it's also aesthetically appealing. It's the quintessential infinity pool—water spills over the edge and seems to merge with the azure expanse of the ocean. The owner, an attorney and runner, wanted a lap pool, says Los Angeles architect William Hefner, who renovated the entire home. "He told me, 'Sooner or later, my knees are going to go.' "
The Wet Bar: Landscape Architect Mark Rios Creates a Pool for Socializing at the Home of TV Producer
This isn't a lap pool or a swim-in-place space-saver. Its designer, landscape architect Mark Rios, of Rios Clementi Hale Studios in Los Angeles, calls it "a wet outdoor living room."
California Dreamin': David Hockney Inspires Architect Patrick Tighe's Pool Design
You Really Want a Pool, but Your Property Is Either Exceptionally Steep, Narrow or Tiny. Here, Southern California Landscape Designers and Architects Illustrate How They Overcame Spatial Challenges
Tank Top: Landscape Designer Jay Griffith Goes Aboveground in Rustic Canyon
The biggest hurdle for landscape designer Jay Griffith was to persuade his clients—a writer and movie producer—to build an unconventional aboveground pool. Griffith wanted to visually integrate the pool, located on a three-quarter-acre Rustic Canyon property studded with old sycamores, with the distinctive, two-story modern home designed by architect Steven Ehrlich. "It's not a conventional house and it's not a conventional neighborhood," Griffith says. "Why do a conventional fenced pool in the middle of the yard? That idea had to go."