ARTICLES Archives - Page 156 of 313

On the Flat and Shallow

I don’t remember exactly when or where I saw my first tanning shelf, but I recall being puzzled and even a bit put off by the concept. I have never been one to loll around my own backyard pool, basically because my fair skin takes a UV beating. (Actually, I’m just tired of having my dermatologist remind me that I’m paying the piper for

Riding a Wave

So far in my Travelogues, I have always reported on watershapes I’ve seen with my own eyes – but every rule needs its exceptions, and this is one of those cases. Many years ago, I became aware of Santiago Calatrava’s extraordinary bridges – structures so far removed from historical precedent and any sense of the ordinary that

Cool Sensations

As I’ve emphasized so far in this series on the art of concealment, it is my firm belief that, as a designer and/or builder, you must pay attention to detail if your goal is to reduce visual clutter and thereby please your clients. In my own projects, I am so accustomed to pushing past so many aesthetic obstacles that it’s become second nature to me. As a result, whenever the need arises to install, say, a junction box or a deck drain or a cleanout, I have

Making the Most of Stone

Stone. Rock. Boulder. Just the sounds of those words imply strength – terse terms that audibly capture gravity when pronounced. You expect the material they describe to be dominating, and in fact it does command attention, demand recognition and push us toward respect. We want rock. We need rock. But why? Maybe it’s because

Test Your Knowledge #27

Europe Swimming Championships Move from Belgium to Hungary

Ripples #38

Compiled and Written by Lenny Giteck New Book Reveals 18-Month JFK Affair Started in White House Pool A recently published memoir by now-68-year-old Mimi Alford claims she was

Aesthetics First!

I ran into an interesting reaction to my last blog — the one about diving boards and slides — that forced me to meditate on my approach to this series of articles about elements of aquatic environments that I like and/or dislike. “Must everything,” I was asked, “be about aesthetics? You yourself say that diving boards and slides are a blast, but then you

Taking the Plunge

Back in 1979, when I first started in magazine publishing and was toiling away as a humble editorial assistant rewriting lots of press releases, the thought of having my own office seemed out of reach. But I was just

The Art of Concealment

For years now, I have been fascinated by the lengths people are willing to go to avoid visual clutter.It all started before I was a watershaper – back in the days when a partner and I spent our time setting up high-tech security systems in the homes of well-to-do residents of Silicon Valley. As though it were yesterday, I remember a homeowner giving me a tour of her house and taking delight in asking me to

Spanish Accents

In the first entry in this series of articles, we opened a discussion of the hurdles watershapers encounter when attempting to integrate pools or spas with architectural styles that historically never had swimming pools