Custom Curves

At first glance, to a skilled builder, this vanishing-edge pool and spa in Brick, N.J., may not look particularly difficult to construct. But look again. One whole side of decking, a 180-foot stretch, is curved and this radius motif is repeated in many other parts of the project as well. "Each one of those slabs of deck has a radius to it," says Kevin Ruddy, owner of Omega Pool Structures and a platinum member of the Genesis 3 Design Group. "This was not an easy project to build."

The radius also made the vanishing edge a little trickier than usual. "It wasn't just a straight run -- that whole 26 feet has a radius to it and a radius has to be perfect, because when you look down it, you can tell if it's not," says Ruddy. "Plus, all the glass tile on the edge had to be set perfectly in order to have the spill operating properly."

The decking material, Jerusalem limestone, was imported from Israel and chosen because of its rich character. "This limestone actually has a lot of fossils in it," says Ruddy. The one thing this pool doesn't have that many high-end pools do is an automatic cover. In fact, it has no cover at all. "This pool stays open and filled to the top of the tile year-round," says Ruddy. "Typically when you have a pool that's designed this way, it's a visual thing. You don't want to have a bunch of grommets in $80,000 worth of decking. And you do have to pay to have it maintained throughout the winter, but we have a lot of clients go that way."