WaterShapes

The web site for all professionals and consumers who've made or want to make water a part of their lives

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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.

Hearts of Stone

Sculptor Alan Hochman has carved out a unique niche for himself by using the visual drama of natural stone and combining it with subtle flows of water. These works of sublime beauty and expressiveness draw inspiration from nature, eastern philosophy and a lifetime of study, but he carefully tailors each piece to suit a specific site and the needs of clients who share his passion for sculptures that play with contrasts and even contradictions.

A Slice of Paradise

It was a challenging site for a long pool that would overflow on all four sides. But with the right foundation and a well-engineered shell, writes Grant Smith, the project came together beautifully -- although it apparently wasn't enough to get his clients to stick around to enjoy the view!

Fishy Affairs

There comes a time with most ponds when the owners will want to add fish to supplement the original population or replace pets lost to age or predators. It's a perilous step, notes Mike Gannon, which is why he prepares his clients for the occasion early on with words of caution.

Organizing Chaos

Every watershaping project starts with a big box of possibilities the designer digs through in selecting features that meet the needs of the site, the clients and the budget. Kurt Kraisinger will examine this early digging to start a brand-new series on how designs come together.

Forging a Path

Designing and installing botanical gardens may be soul-satisfying, but it's also a remarkable professional challenge. As Raymond Jungles writes in the first of three articles on the subject, these projects have multiple audiences, each of them bringing massive expectations to the table.

An Exotic Oasis

Working far from his U.S. home base is nothing new for Josh Martin. But in the case of the Yas Mall in Abu Dhabi, the scale of the project -- combined with the large number of watershapes and their abundance of precision details -- kept things interesting, one feature after another.

Hard-Won Beauty

Called back to a pool he'd bid on unsuccessfully ten years earlier, William Drakeley found that the winning contractor had fallen short in several ways. It was now up to him to persuade an extremely reluctant client to start all over again, this time with a more suitable approach.

Fluid Melodies: An Interview with Steve Mann

For the past 20 years, Toronto-based artist, scientist, inventor, professor and musician Steve Mann has been inventing, creating, building and playing what he calls ‘hydraulophones.’ Part fountain, part interactive waterfeature, part musical instrument and in all ways unusual, these systems enable adults, children and anyone who cares to give one a try the ability to manipulate the flow of water to create musical notes, harmonies and melodies.

Swimming to Wellness

Most people know that swimming is a great form of exercise, but far fewer seem aware that getting in the water can mean the difference between a life of disability and one of well being for those who live with chronic injuries and illnesses. In this special feature, Barbara Goldstein describes how a daily swimming regimen has enabled her to stay fit and able in mind, body and spirit while keeping symptoms of three serious medical conditions at bay.

Powering the Press

Among all the things he did to build his business, wrote Brian Van Bower in March 2004, one tactic stood out head and shoulders above the rest. Has anything has happened since then to alter the picture?

Frosted Plumes

If you klive where it gets really cold this time of year, Jim McCloskey recommends seeking out watershapes that present you with a wonderous, wintry spectacle.

Pool Design as Art Form

‘It’s unlikely anyone back in 1992 would have imagined that the daughter of fashion designer Calvin Klein would change the way we think of swimming pools,’ writes WaterShapes book reviewer Mike Farley. Still, Farley insists that the book Pools by Kelly Klein, first published nearly two decades ago, truly was a game-changer.

CRYSTAL FOUNTAINS VIDEO SHOWCASE

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New Products at Watershapes.com

Speck Introduces Normblock Multi Pumps

Pool/Spa Systems & Equipment
Product information from Speck Pumps on its Normblock Multi line of plastic pumps for use in applications with elevated salt levels.

Fountain Systems & Equipment
Product information from Lightcraft Outdoor on its Mariner cast-brass underwater LED lighting fixtures for ponds and fountains.

Fountain Systems & Equipment
Product information from EasyPro Pond Products on its Vianti line of kits for turning block walls into waterfall features.

Coverall Stone Offers Pebble Tile Mosaics

Construction Systems & Materials
Product information from Coverall Stone on its line of interlocking, mesh-backed mosaics made up of natural pebbles

Pool/Spa Systems & Equipment
Product information from Bradford Products on its line of custom, stainless steel reflecting pools for residential and commercial applications.

Frank Wall Enterprises Offers Handychute

Construction Systems & Materials
Product information from Frank Wall Enterprises on Handychute, a system that directs the flow of concrete as it comes down the chute.

Rallying to a Cause

WaterShapes World (blog)
A news story about a pair of community groups that are raising money to pay for restoration of an iconic Minneapolis fountain recently caught Jim McCloskey's eye -- and leads him to discuss a hopeful trend toward public intervention when municipalities can't seem to get the job done.