Pool Trends 2020

Pool design is currently going through a renaissance as pool owners look for a more refined, simple design. The days of flashy glass windows and swim-up bars are behind us.

Situating a pool in the landscape should be one of the first factors considered when designing the space. Second to only the home itself, a pool is typically the main focal point of any garden and there are a few factors that must be considered to ensure a successful design.

The size or scale of the pool design in relation to the rest of the garden is the first item we address, as the proposed pool needs to sit well in its new location. While there is no magic formula, the pool’s location and size need to complement the home and garden, not overwhelm them.

Nearly all the pools we design these days are a simple shape and layout — typically a basic rectangle or square (whichever sits best in the proposed location). Features such as swimouts or floating steppers tend to dominate the rest of the garden and can create a disjointed feel. The trend towards simplicity in shape has also led to a reduction in oversized pools, with the most popular sizes being anything up to 8 x 4 m.

While wet-edge or infinity-edge pools have been on trend for many years, they are still an effective way of adding a restrained and clean design feature. Used in the correct location, a wet-edge pool can look like a sheet of glass overlooking the rest of the garden or landscape.

Fully tiled pool interiors are now within many clients’ reach due to the increased affordability of tile options. Consumer awareness of the many benefits of tiles has also increased. Fully tiled pools project a uniform water colour, are smooth underfoot and are easier to keep clean. As pool sizes have decreased, so too has the cost of fully tiling a pool, making the option far more likely to fit within most people’s budgets.

It wouldn’t be 2020 without the smartphone making its way into the world of swimming pools. Our clients are enjoying the ease of operating all their pool filtration and heating equipment from their iPhone. Tri-link controllers are an intuitive system that link the pool’s filtration system to any smartphone. We’ve found this technology has made the process of maintaining a pool easier for our busy clients.

Overall, the pool design trends for 2020 and beyond are all about simple design that complements the rest of the landscape and, most importantly, makes the client’s life easier. After all, no-one wants to spend their weekends maintaining a huge, complex pool when they should be just enjoying it.