The short answer
A rectangle is the most natural shape for steel walls: every section is straight, the corners are exact and the membrane lies without wrinkles. For a family, a length of 7 to 8 metres and a width of 3.5 to 4 metres covers most needs.
How we choose the size
We start from what you will do in the pool. For cooling off and playing, width matters more. For swimming, length. An 8 × 4 metre pool gives room for strokes and for children in the shallows. A 6 × 3 metre pool fits an average suburban garden and is enough for a couple.
The limit that matters on paper is 50 m² of water surface. Up to that, the small-scale works approval is enough.
Steps: full width, corner or recess
Full-width steps are the most comfortable: you sit, you ease in, children play on them. They do take up some of the length. Corner steps leave more water free. A recess, where the steps sit outside the rectangle, keeps the whole pool for swimming.
Depth
For most families we suggest a depth of 1.10 to 1.50 metres, with a gentle slope. Deeper is unnecessary unless you plan to dive from height, and every extra centimetre means more digging and more water.
Coping and surround
The coping is the edge you step on when getting out. It can be marble, cast stone or timber. The surround needs a non-slip surface and a fall away from the pool, so rainwater does not run in.
In Attica gardens that bake in the July sun, choose light-coloured materials. Dark tiles get so hot you cannot walk on them barefoot.
