Conventional freeform pools

Most family at least swimming pools which we have all seen are rectangular or at best include a Roman arch on one side. Conventional swimming pools 

Although no one can dispute the elegance and austerity of a simple rectangular shape, however, the pools that usually remain memorable to us are those with a very special shape and little to no imperfections in their curves.

The difficulty of translating into practice, what an architect can design on paper or in AutoCad, and the common mistakes that accompany the construction of very particular pool shapes, are more often than not a bigger obstacle, and the increased cost of implementing a freeform pool .

Conventional swimming pools

It is impossible for any free curve of a swimming pool to turn out perfectly when the human factor is so strongly involved in its implementation. It is one thing to draw a curve on a 30cm long piece of paper, and another to "cast a concrete wall" 5, 10 or more meters long.

Although the imperfections of each previous repair can be softened by the repair of a subsequent stage, in the end some imperfections always remain visible in the pool lip, thus reducing the aesthetics of a freeform pool.

The concrete and ceramic lip solutions in a freeform pool further detract from the aesthetics of the freeform pool due to the presence of many joints of unequal width.

On the contrary, a material such as marble, which is cut and sewn to the measurements of a special pool shape, minimizes the joints and allows them to have the same width throughout their length, thus increasing the aesthetics of the pool.

Nevertheless, an experienced or observant visitor can see imperfections at the junctions of the various pieces, which usually look like large open Vs. This is because in his attempt to smooth out any differences from one lip to another, the installer "ultimately removes more material from the seam points' and the end result, gives the impression that the lip is narrower at this point.

Conventional swimming pools

In the last 10 years, the use of computers and the design and cutting of the edges by super-automatic CNC machines based on CAD-CAM technology, have led both to the independence of the success of a free-form swimming pool from the good craftsman of stone or marble, and to the elimination of imperfections undoubtedly caused by the adaptation of the lips to the work.

It is thus customary in recent years in good projects, immediately after the construction of a swimming pool, to capture its shape: either with hard paper (pattern), or with electronic means of capture such as: the space walker & 3-dimensional space scanners.

This impression is digitized and then with the help of AutoCad smoothing is done in bumps or depressions. In fact the AutoCad designer and operator tries to "pass over" the newly created pool as few possible circle arcs as possible, in order to minimize the curvature change points, which bother the eye.

AutoCad type design programs provide their operator with the ability to zoom in & zoom out as needed each time, to observe both the detail of a specific point of the curve, as well as its adaptation and continuity with its adjacent points.

But fatefully, any normalization of a free shape that is attempted, slightly affects the hanging of the lip, although this is infinitely preferable, than having the lip follow any minor mistakes of the previous workshops.

The pieces of marble or stones produced on CNC technology machines come out with a very specific and precise shape and it is impossible for someone to find himself in front of an unpredictable scope, as long as he has correctly followed the process of imprinting - smoothing the shape and producing the lips with CNC machines.

The advantages of digitally capturing a freeform pool are perhaps obvious, but this method still has significant disadvantages.

Freeform

One of the main disadvantages is that one has to wait for the construction of the walls of a swimming pool to be completed: formwork, pouring concrete, insulation & cement mortar, in order to make an impression of its shape, thus delaying the development and construction of the project from impression up to the construction and placement of the lips.

This problem is even more evident when we are talking about very distant pools, such as for example pools in Florida, America, where, in addition to all other delays, a journey of 30-40 days is required to reach the rims from Europe to America (provided that America has no tradition of making marble countertops & sources them from Europe).

These endless delays of such important projects prompted the young S.Potamitis, a Greek economist specializing in international patents & innovation, in the context of their collaboration with Sofikitis Terra & Aqua, to propose the existence of a 2-fold series of patterns for the construction of a swimming pool, on the basis of which the frame of the conventional concrete pool will be constructed at the same time, as well as its marble edges, so that there is no loss of time. Conventional swimming pools

The R&D department of Sofikitis Terra & Aqua, received and further developed this idea and shortly before the end of 2007 will officially present to Greek and foreign architects and designers of swimming pools, its complete proposal, for the construction of a free-form conventional swimming pool, with maximum accuracy and minimum cost and delay.

Based on this method, the creator of a pool gives the digital file with the design of a free-form pool to Sofikitis Terra & Aqua before any project actually starts. Conventional swimming pools

Sofikitis Terra & Aqua

Sofikitis Terra & Aqua immediately sends back a drawing with the proposed seams (joints) of the lips for checking and confirmation. The client and his designer still have the possibility to make any last minute intervention and correction.

Based on the agreed design and the proposed joints of the lips, they are produced on a 1:1 scale and on special CNC machines: either special metal patterns, or wooden auxiliary molds, numbered so that, joined in ascending order, they actually form the desired shape of the pool. Conventional swimming pools

In this way, mistakes and failures during molding are avoided, and the desired and agreed free shape of the pool inevitably results.

In addition to the economy in concrete losses, but also the ease and economy of materials in plastering, the biggest benefit from the electronically controlled construction of the conventional pool is that the marble lips that have been selected, are produced simultaneously with the construction of the conventional pool, and there is not the slightest delay in the development of the project.

Also very important advantages of this method are the ease and economy in molding, the extremely fast placement and adjustment of the lip in ascending order, but above all the homogeneous hanging of the lip of the pool along the entire length of its rim, as a consequence of electronically dependent implementation of it.

This particular construction method is expected to give new impetus to the construction of complex pool shapes in the coming years, since reduces the cost and time to build a freeform conventional pool, and increases the perfection and harmony of its shapes, providing the ideal fit of lips with a stable and controlled hanging towards the water.

For more information you can contact pools@sofikitis.gr & on fax.210 5325155.