GAVA is an independent design award competition open to all design disciplines, including architects, contractors, interior and exterior designers, homebuilders, pool builders and designers worldwide.
All 48 winning projects, and the visionaries who created them, are profiled in the book. One project that caught our eye is from Stefan Kanetis' Hidden Water Pools in Poway, Calif. The pool builder earned a Gold award in the Special Applications – Technology category for a project in San Antonio, Texas, that features Kanetis' invention, which combines a safety cover and deck patio in one. When the deck patio is lifted, the vessel is completely covered, preventing accidental submersion as well as reducing heat loss and evaporation.
Hidden Water Pools has filed six comprehensive domestic and international patents to protect the proprietary hydraulic and valve system that is used to move the patio deck through the body of water to various depths. The technology allows a 1-horsepower pump to raise and lower the patio, which can support in excess of 20,000 pounds, with as little as 20 pounds per square inch of water pressure in less than two minutes.
