engineering

Neptune Pool

Neptune Pool is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Neptune Pool rather than just read about it. In short: The Neptune Pool is an outdoor swimming pool ensemble at Hearst Castle, in San Simeon, California. As well as a large swimming pool, the terrace also includes fountains, ornamental pools, sculptures, marble pavilions, alabaster lanterns, dressing rooms, and a mainly reconstructed ancient temple facade.

Key takeaways

Neptune Pool belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Neptune Pool to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Neptune Pool from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Neptune Pool is an outdoor swimming pool ensemble at Hearst Castle, in San Simeon, California. As well as a large swimming pool, the terrace also includes fountains, ornamental pools, sculptures, marble pavilions, alabaster lanterns, dressing rooms, and a mainly reconstructed ancient temple facade. The Neptune Terrace, including its huge pool shell, are raised up behind massive retaining walls on the Hearst Castle ridge-line in the Santa Lucia Mountains. It is to the north and lower than the main Casa Grande and the guest house terrace, with vistas of the ranch, Point San Simeon coastline, and Pacific Ocean. In 2014, the pool was drained due to severe drought conditions in Southern California. The pool had been leaking and evaporating 5,000 US gallons (19,000 L; 4,200 imp gal) of water per day. Extensive renovations began in 2017 to completely replace the pool's tile base and fix the leaks which had plagued it since its construction. The pool was temporarily filled for the first time since 2014 that August to make sure the leaks had been repaired before the water was subsequently returned to the local watershed. In August, 2018 the pool restoration was completed and the pool was refilled. In 2019, the pool was opened to the public by purchasing tickets with donations which helps fund the castle's art conservation and education programs. The castle was closed to visitors in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design

History Designed by architect Julia Morgan, the Neptune Pool with terrace elements was started in 1924. Albert Solon and Frank Schemmel of Solon and Schemmel Tile Company came to Hearst Castle to perform the tile work. The Neptune Pool was built and rebuilt three times, each version a larger size. After the 1926 and 1934 redesigns and re-buildings, it was finally deemed completed by William Randolph Hearst in 1936.

Scale

The Neptune Pool is 58 feet (18 m) wide except for the 95 feet (29 m) width at the primary axis fountain—alcove section, and the secondary axis pool length is 104 feet (32 m). The depth varies from 3.5 feet (1.1 m) at the west 'shallow' end, to 10 feet (3.0 m) at pools' main drains. The fountains and pool are fed by spring water piped from the Santa Lucia Mountains, and the pool alone holds 345,000 US gallons (1,310,000 L; 287,000 imp gal) of water.

Architectural and landscape elements

Light-veined Vermont marble decorates the flooring and side walls of the swimming and ornamental pools, and the colonnades. The swimming pool is surrounded by Ancient Roman Revival and Greek Revival style pavilions and colonnades. The pool's main axis centerpiece and north terminus is elaborated from parts of the façade of an Ancient Roman temple that William Randolph Hearst had purchased in Europe and imported to San Simeon. It is symmetrically framed by the colonnaded pavilions as the secondary axis' west and east terminus elements. 17th-century Italian Neoclassical bas-reliefs are upon the sides of the colonnades. The 'Neptune' and 'Nereid' statues, first atop the cascade, were moved to present positions in the Roman temple's pediment. New classical sculptures were commissioned by sculptor Charles Cassou. His 'Neptune statuary group,' planned from the late 1920s for a small cascade pool, was never installed. His ‘Venus’ was.

In films and on television The Neptune pool was used as the set for the entrance of Crassus' villa in Kubrick's Spartacus. The Lady Gaga video "G.U.Y." was shot at various locations at Hearst Castle, including the pool. Due to drought conditions and leaks in the pool, the Neptune Pool was drained in 2014. However, the pool was filled for the music video. Featured by Huell Howser in California's Gold Episode 702

See also List of works by Julia Morgan Pedimental sculptures in the United States

References

External links

Hearstcastle.org: "The Pools of Hearst Castle"

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Neptune Pool

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Neptune Pool claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Neptune Pool before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Neptune Pool ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Neptune Pool

In research: Neptune Pool appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Neptune Pool in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Neptune Pool is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1936 establishments in California, Buildings and structures completed in 1936, Buildings and structures in San Luis Obispo County, California, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Neptune Pool outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Neptune Pool in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Neptune Pool means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Neptune Pool out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Neptune Pool in simple terms?

Why does Neptune Pool matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Neptune Pool?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Neptune Pool.