When Paul Benedetti, vice president of operations and principal of Morgan Hill, California-based Aquatic Technology Pool & Spa, works with clients to create a beautiful backyard, he always keep in mind the architecture and style of the site. If the clients want fiber optics, but that type of lighting would not complement the site, Benedetti steers them towards lighting that will.

In this case, fiber optics did fit the project. Inside the concrete fountains at the his nestled in the foothills Los Gatos, California are acrylic rods lit by fiber optics running down the centers of the rills. Each fountain’s catch basic has a fiber-optic uplight installed in the floor to illuminate the exact point where the water lands.

To prevent people from stepping into the basins, perimeter fiber optics were hidden under the lip of the flagstone coping to gently illuminate the basin. “I'm a proponent of the philosophy that you should see the effects of lighting and not the source,” Benedetti says. “So we try to put the light in locations where you’re going to see the effect, but you’re not going to see where the lights are coming from.”