About Water House Pools
Chris Rawlings
Graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a degree in Industrial Design. He began his working career at the Mystic Sea Port Museum in Mystic Connecticut. While at Mystic, Chris taught traditional wooden boat building courses and worked as a shipwright preserving the museum’s historic watercraft collection.
He relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico and worked for Plants of the Southwest , a progressive nursery specializing in drought-tolerant native species, which are propagated and planted in residential and commercial landscapes.
Returning to the Northeast, he began the furniture and architectural accents company Pietown Design, which specialized in recycled and certified wood products. During this time, Chris taught wood sculpture to high school students while creating his own sculptural work inspired by current environmental issues.
In 1999, he began construction of a sod-roofed, straw bale-insulated house in Ashfield, Massachusetts where he now lives with his wife and their two daughters.
Having grown up with a father in the excavation business, Chris began Rawlings Excavation Services LLC in 2000. Always drawn towards projects involving water and the setting of large stones, the evolution to Natural Swimming Pools was a logical result. With an extensive design background, heavy equipment experience, and an environmentally conscious approach, it is Chris’ goal to create unique pools and ponds that nourish the people who use them, while revitalizing the landscapes in which they are constructed.
History
Natural pools are fairly new to the United States, but in Europe many companies have been installing and refining this design approach for several decades. They have been built for not only private residences, but for hotels and public organizations as well.
In his book, Natural Swimming Pools Inspiration for Harmony with Nature (link) Michael Littlewood states, “Since 1983 over 20,000 natural swimming pools have been built in Austria, over 8,000 in Germany and 1,500 in Switzerland. They have also been built in Italy, Belgium, Holland, Hungry, and France, as well as Russia, Costa Rica, and Chile.”
Over the years, there have been several pioneers who have worked with natural water systems. Bill Mollison developed Permaculture techniques in Australia. Here in the US, Ian Mcharg’s book Design with Nature, published in 1971, helped open a new way of systems thinking, and Dr. John Todd of Cape Cod Massachusetts has been working with natural wastewater treatment techniques at the New Alchemy Institute since the early seventies.
Philosophy
Human consumption of resources and the ways in which we impact the world is demanding more of our attention. Bring this awareness to the space around your home. Turning a portion of your yard into a conventional swimming pool— a fenced off, steep- sided water feature treated with chlorine and other chemicals— creates a place to swim, but it also separates the area even further from the natural world.
In creating a natural swimming pool— one where the water is clear, clean, and safe—we create not only a space for personal enjoyment , but also a feature that enhances life on many levels. A natural swimming pool is a place of balance and harmony, celebrating our capability to utilize the astonishing effectiveness of nature’s systems.
Links
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Water House Pools & Ponds works exclusively with Oase ™ Living Water on all our pump & filter system installations.
Michael Littlewood is a wonderful author who has given a tremendous boost
to Natural Pools through his design work and numerous publications. Water
House Pools owes a big "Thank You!" to Michael and Jayne for their warm hospitality during our resent visit to England.
A product and process design firm who's innovative thinking
we find very inspirational.
A cutting edge natural pool design & build company based in the UK, a great
site with some very beautiful pools and more terrific links.
www.goshenstone.com/
Beautiful native patio and wall stone located in Goshen Ma. Great people to work with.
http://www.newenglandwild.org/learn/catalog/hdt2020
The New England Wild Flower Society is a great resource for all things plant related! We will be hosting a course on plant filtered natural swimming pools on July 10, 2010 in Ashfield, Ma. Link to the New England Wild Flower Society or contact us for more information.