Materials

I would like to, at this point, begin to think in detail which materials that I would like to use in my swimming pool design.
When designing for a swimming pool area, materials are important as they need to work with the surrounding environment and its function.
In a public swimming pool the environment is constantly used. Thousands of people rotate through swimming pools each year and so the materials used in the construction of the environment must be very durable, with the least amount of maintence required.
The type of materials used can be very useful in the over all attractiveness of the design and so choosing must be done carefully.
After doing some sketch work I have been thinking about the over all mood that I would like to portray throughout the interior. The undergrounf pool, I have decided, will be named 'the family spa', and so I want to create a calming mood to enable family bonding and a nice environment to introduce babies to the world of swimming pool and water.
When I think spa, I think nature and so I would like to include some natural elements through the use of materials. On the wall, around the glass window (which you will be able to see the begins of designs from previous posts and I will put recent ones up too) I would like to have a pebble stone finish.

I would also like to make use of these stone colours throughout and I was thinking that I could use pebble stone for the flooring aswell but it may be slightly uncomfortable when walking. I could however use it as a frame around the pools.

The flooring is an important one, the material must be durable, easliy cleaned, and non slip, and so I thought to use a stone, or ceramic tyle in the same colours as the pebbles.

I have seen stone worked into bathrooms and in outdoor pools and so  i know it is effective in practice and very durable. It also looks quite nice, and aswell as the pebbles, brings outside, in. With use of correct lighting, these natural materials could look very well together and create a nice, calming, and fresh environment.

I would also like to make quite alot of use of Glass. Some completely transparent and some paterened and translucent. The Glass would need to be non-slip so that grip can be possible for swimmers who need a breather at the edge, the other reason it needs to be non-slip is because it will be used as a flooring in parts of the design and people need to be able to play on the glass safely without the possibility of falling.

Non-slip glass is glass coated with a special non slip film. Here are some examples.