Making Waves with Smart Aquatics

Making Waves: How Smart Aquatics Is Rewriting the Rules of Outdoor Living

What do a floating acrylic pool, a luxury Lamborghini, and a vision for design-driven living have in common? They’re all part of the boundary-breaking world of Smart Aquatics, the Miami-based studio that’s turning outdoor spaces into bold architectural statements—and turning the pool industry on its head.

At the center of it all is Jonny Nalepa, founder, designer, dreamer, and winner of the Wildly SYNKD Award at SYNKD Live 2025. His work doesn’t just challenge the idea of what a pool can be—it challenges what outdoor living should be. “Pools used to be afterthoughts. Now they’re part of the architecture,” Nalepa says. “And honestly, they should be.”

From Grit to Gloss

Nalepa’s story starts far from the glittering acrylic edges of luxury water design. Raised in Miami, FL, he grew up elbow-deep in chlorine, repair work, and the raw hustle of Pool Rangers Inc., the company his father started more than 40 years ago with just $20 and a dream. “My real education began before I could drive,” he says with a laugh.

Still, he formalized his path with an associate’s degree, a CAD drafting certificate, and a second degree in aquatic engineering. By 2019, he was already gaining attention for his conceptual designs, quoted in Pool Pro as wanting to make pools feel like “art and architecture.” Less than a year later, he took the plunge.

Enter Smart Aquatics—Just in Time

In March 2020, Nalepa launched Smart Aquatics, starting with $2,500 borrowed from his mom—and a portfolio full of big ideas. Then came the pandemic. But instead of slowing down, the shutdown became a tailwind. Homeowners turned inward, investing in their properties, and suddenly, pools were back in focus.

For the first two years, it was a solo act: design, sales, operations, client service, even billing. “It was brutal. I wasn’t eating. I wasn’t sleeping,” he says. And yet, the company grew fast—over 120% year-over-year. But success raised a bigger question: Did he want to remain self-employed, or build something bigger?

Nalepa chose the latter—and paid for it. “I was burning $50,000 a month at one point. Hired the wrong people, got burned, but I learned,” he says. Today, Smart Aquatics has a powerhouse team of 10, including globally based designers and engineers. “The limits disappear when you have a real team,” he says with pride.

Design That Defies Gravity (Literally)

While Smart Aquatics handles several of the largest residential pool projects in the Northeast, Nalepa lights up talking about one of their most daring designs yet: a $3 million acrylic sky pool suspended between two buildings. Inspired by London’s famed Embassy Gardens pool, this version is smaller—just 15’ x 30’—but wildly more complex.

“It’s a floating pool, acrylic, suspended in air with custom fittings, skimmers, R&D—it’s a whole new level,” he says. “We’re doing things for the first time, and that’s what makes it exciting.”

These are not backyard pools. They’re immersive, sculptural experiences. Think: moveable floors, fire-meets-water features, and yes, even supercars showcased in aquatic mirrors. One Smart Aquatics project involved placing a Lamborghini in the middle of a reflecting pool—complete with cascading fountains and fire elements. But form follows function. “Cool ideas only work if you can protect the car, meet code, and build it to last,” says Nalepa.

Smart ConstruXion: Bridging the Gap

Seeing the tension between vision and execution, Nalepa launched a second company this year: Smart ConstruXion. “I used to say I’d never touch construction, but there’s too much disconnect between design and build. It slows down innovation,” he says. The solution? A standalone construction arm, separate from design but tightly aligned.

“We didn’t want to become a giant one-stop-shop. This is a different approach,” he says. With Smart Aquatics designing and Smart ConstruXion executing, the companies collaborate without compromising creativity or construction integrity.

Water Is Wellness

What’s driving this evolution? Wellness—and not just in the spa sense. Nalepa points to Blue Mind theory, the science-backed idea that proximity to water induces calm, clarity, and connection. “Water isn’t just beautiful. It’s human, it’s emotional,” he says.

From ice fountains and vitality pools to experience showers and infrared saunas, Smart Aquatics is tapping into this demand for therapeutic, immersive environments. “It’s not just luxury anymore, it’s lifestyle. People want spaces that restore them.”

Outdoor Living Gets a Promotion

The biggest shift Nalepa sees? Outdoor space is finally being valued like interior square footage. “There’s a paradigm shift happening,” he explains. “People used to spend 90% of the budget indoors. Now it’s 50/50. The lines are blurring.”

He’s seen homes with 30-foot water walls inside and landscapes where 50% of the space is dedicated to water features. Materials like stainless steel, acrylic, and permeable stone aren’t just modern—they’re part of a larger architectural conversation.

“There’s a reason architecture exists,” Nalepa says. “It’s supposed to evoke something. A thought, an emotion. Otherwise, it’s just walls. A pool should do the same.”

Lessons from the Deep End

Nalepa doesn’t sugarcoat the learning curve. “There’s a myth that entrepreneurs start companies. But really, it’s technicians—people like me—who just go for it,” he says. His early hires didn’t work out. His first few years were unsustainable. But every misstep taught him something: how to build better systems, hire smarter, and scale with purpose.

Now he’s guiding others in the industry to think bigger—and bolder. “It’s easy to say yes to every project. But when you start saying no to the wrong ones, you get to say hell yes to the right ones,” he says.

Making the Impossible... Practical

Smart Aquatics isn’t just designing water features. It’s redesigning how the industry thinks about outdoor space. By blending bold creativity with technical precision, Nalepa and his team are proving that imagination doesn’t have to clash with engineering—it can elevate it.

The result? Projects that look like art, feel like wellness, and perform like architecture. “We’re not just building pools,” Nalepa says. “We’re building something you live in, dream in, and remember.”

And that’s why Smart Aquatics is more than just smart—it’s visionary.

Photo Credits: Jimi Smith Photography
Learn More: smart-aquatics.com | jonny@smart-aquatics.com | 786-277-3873

Read the article in the digital issue here