Is The Infinity Pool Tired or Expired?

Posted: 27 Aug 2009 | 7:02 am

In the beginning came the pool villa ala Amanpuri and Banyan Tree with tropical contemporary design borrowing a bit of lanna Thai with a dab of total privacy, and boom a design icon was born. That was the 90's and even today on the cusp of its second decade of popularity remains the luxury villa design of choice amongst the jet set of Phuket property owners.

That brings us to the infinity pool, which somehow crept up on us and became such an overnight sensation that it's hard to remember when they become the aquatic escape of choice. It seems to be the consensus that they also date back to the 90's when they etched themselves into our collective Robinson Crusoe memories. For longer then I care to remember the far away gaze into nothingness and chiseled edges of infinity have graced the covers of more coffee table books, travel guides and upscale magazines.

Looking at today's downsized, hybrid driving, more modest approach to unassuming upscale living the pressing question remains what comes next in tropical pool design? Infinity pools while lovely to look at with those cascading water falls require a nearly constant flow of electricity to pump and recirculate water goes wosh into thin air as evaporation during the moving process takes away yet another valuable resource. This is bad news for mother earth and after that Al Gore movie and worries that the entire nation of the Maldives is about to be Atlantis, there might be cause for concern.

As for what's next it's going to be interesting seeing how things pan out or if the design perhaps has the staying power of those villas who kind of go hand in hand in a yin and yang sort of way. There always is the no pool option, relying on the kindness of friends or strangers, or what many consider the last solution - public pools. Last but not least the biggest pool of all, the ocean is an option what with global warming going the way it is, we might all be swimming soon.

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