WaterShapes

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Photo courtesy Questar Pools & Spas, Escondido, Calif.
Photo courtesy H2Oarts, Santa Paula, Calif.
Photo courtesy Hess Landscape Architects, Lansdale, Pa.
Photo courtesy Design Ecology, Austin, Texas
Photo courtesy Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Pa.
Photo courtesy Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif.
Photo courtesy Rock Solid Tile, Calabasas, Calif.
Photo courtesy Hughes Water Gardens, Wilsonville, Ore.

The Power of Passion

Landscape designer Melanie Jauregui believes there’s much more to good exterior design than an understanding of project parameters, sound engineering and tight planning and execution. That’s why she takes time to uncover the aesthetic and thematic preferences as well as the emotional motivators of each client – a process that enables her to create landscapes and watershapes that not only function as desired, but speak to the heart as well.

Refined Parameters

The stakes for a watershape designer are pretty high when the client is a noted architect, observes Shane LeBlanc -- particularly when you're working 3,000 miles from your home base and need to find professionals capable of bringing your bold, ambitious ideas to life.

Embracing a Vision

Building watershapes to other's specifications is something he enjoys doing, writes Dave Penton -- particularly when he gets to work with ambitious designers on great projects.

Swiss Precision

Working with unusually large material is a distinct technical challenge in tile application, reports Jimmy Reed. As always, planning and surface preparation are crucial, but the keys in this specific project were patience, skill and a raw determination to stick to a simple, elegant grid.

Gravel's Virtues

Puzzled by its bad reputation among his clients, Mike Gannon undertook a study of gravel. He'd alsway believed in its abilities, he says, but found a rich history that now aids in him in easing his client's doubts.

Adopted Vision

Building a project to another designer's plan can be awkward when you notice flaws you might have helped address. In this case, notes Tanr Ross, the results were truly spectacular -- but assessing the 'deficiencies' taught him valuable lessons he'll always carry with him.

Monumental Pride

Working on major projects is always good for company morale, notes Denise Housler. But in this case, the fact that it was a monument meant to commemorate veterans from their own county kicked both their emotions and their desire to nail the details up by several notches.

Moving Experiences

As a vinyl-liner pool specialist with adventurous tendencies, Josh Katz has done several installations that have pushed the technology to its creative limits. In the project describe here, for example, his firm designed and installed a residential watershape in which customized steel walls and a liner were used to fashion a full-fledged lazy-river pool – perhaps the very first of its kind – surrounded by stone and wood decks, waterfalls and much more.

Layering the Experience

Watershaper and landscape architect Kathy Marosz relies on two words to describe her installation of a wildly elaborate watershape complex in the hills of north San Diego County: unending complexity. Here, in her second article on this outsized project, she digs into the intricacies of a unique hydraulic network that gives the homeowner a dazzlingly broad set of options to pursue while enjoying his 90,000-gallon backyard paradise.

Now You See It

Inspiration is where you find it -- even when it comes to drain covers, wrote David Tisherman in June 2004, which is why he's so focused on getting out and seeing what others have done with his own eyes.

Ten Landscapes: The View East

In his review of Ten Landscapes by Shunmyo Nasuno, Mike Farley observes that ‘...although I’m not given to making such sweeping statements, I am comfortable in saying that every watershaper should study the Japanese garden tradition.’ The book’s concepts, Farley asserts, ‘can easily be applied to projects in any number of styles and settings.’

CRYSTAL FOUNTAINS VIDEO SHOWCASE

Click 'play' to watch the current showcase video

New Products at Watershapes.com

CMP Adds High-Flow UV Sterilizer

Pool/Spa Systems & Equipment
Product information from CMP on UV-C 50, a high-flow ultraviolet sterilizer for pools with capacities up to 50,000 gallons.

Hydropavers Introduces Permeable Decking

Landscape/Hardscape Materials & Equipment
Product information from Hydropavers on its water-permeable decking system that absorbs water to reduce puddling.

David Harber Produces Mirrored Water Bowls

Fountain Systems & Equipment
Product information from David Harber Ltd. on Chalice, mirror-polished stainless steel fountain bowls available in four sizes.

Pool/Spa Systems & Equipment
Product information from Pentair on the WhisperFloXF VS 5HP, a variable speed pump designed for commercial applications.

Landscape Structures Offers Water-Play Platforms

Other Watershape Systems & Equipment
Product information from Landscape Structures on HydraHub2, an interactive splash-zone system from Aquatix

Universal Launches Radiant Fusion Finishes

Construction Systems & Materials
Product information from Universal White Cement on its Radiant Fusion finishes from swimming pools and spas.

Collaborative Artists

WaterShapes World (blog)
In this very special edition of the WaterShapes newsletter, writes Jim McCloskey, you'll find a trio of articles offering perspectives on a single project as told by three top-flight watershapers. It's a summertime treat -- and dynamic testimony to the power of artful teamwork.