April 2012 AQUA Choice Winner

"The client's bronze mermaid sculpture (brought from a previous residence) was very important to her.  We housed her on a prominent axis of view from the residence and placed her in a LED lighted, separate, all-glass-tile fountain basin with cannon jets, and a fog system." — Randy Angell

It's an elegant and alluring piece of backyard pool and spa construction. It's got flowing lines, impressive rockwork and subtle landscaping that beckons the viewer deeper into the cool thickets beyond the water's edge. But with all that, the eye naturally finds its way to the mermaid.

Her positioning is perfect at the edge of the ordered world. She stands poised above the surface, about to break the reflective plane below, a delight to behold from just about every angle.

Part of the wonder of this installation is that she is actually not indigenous to the area, but was transplanted from a previous residence — it's the builder's art that makes her look so completely at home in her fountain pool at the threshold of the forest.

For all its obvious refinement now, the site that greeted owner and project manager Tom Rozell and designer Randy Angell was quite coarse.

"When we first walked onto this property, we were presented with the remnants of an improperly constructed three-year-old, partially built pool that was quite literally crumbling around the owners," Angell says. "We were unable to save the pool due to poor construction and began demolition of the project. We followed by backfilling the area with compacted select fill."

At this point, the crew had to take time out, as the circus had come to town — the client had previously arranged a circus-themed charity event for the site.

"The sod was laid just days before the circus arrived," Angell says, "so there was no evidence a pool had ever existed on the property. Once the elephants, clowns and other circus life cleared the grounds, we were able to proceed with excavation of the new pool."

In terms of design, Angell says, the client was looking for a very natural and yet surprising oasis in the woods, a place one might happen upon by some very agreeable accident. "So we took great care in tucking the design into the existing trees and grade to seem as though it had always been there."

The client's imperative was clearly achieved. With the fountain embedded into the verge of the forest, a short winding creek was employed to tie the glass-tile basin back into the centerpiece of the overall design, a 31-by-45-foot pool surrounded by Oklahoma flagstone and tons of mossy Milsap boulders.

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