ARTICLES Archives - Page 186 of 315

On Water and Being Human

In this age of incredible cleverness, we are constantly devising more and better and faster ways to distract and entertain ourselves in an apparent collective effort to stay a step ahead of the vague fears that permeate our lives. As a designer and builder of watershapes, I recognize that many of my clients are seeking

The Hazards of Water Migration

Water passing from one level to another will always be a popular feature in watershapes — from the familiar spillways from spas into pools to the intricate flows found in many fountains, reflecting pools, runnels, rills and even koi ponds (to name a few possibilities). Depending on the application, these features might

Shades of Paradise

One of the most common things I hear from my clients is that they’ve been inspired by experiences they’ve had at vacation resorts and want to recapture those good times in their own backyards. I’ve heard this often enough that I keep an eye out for volumes on resort design as I wander through bookstores and hunt for material online. It’s a narrow subject, of course, so I don’t run across too many relevant titles. That’s why I was immediately pleased to find Paradise by Design by Bill Bensley (Periplus Edition, 2008). My pleasure quickly turned to delight: The book is certainly about designing resorts – but it

Inside Manuevers

With vast experience in both the residential and commercial markets, Kevin Ruddy is one of the watershaping industry’s foremost experts on the design and construction of indoor swimming pools and their surrounding environments. Here, in this first of two features covering a complicated residential project, he discusses the painstaking process of designing a pool and the systems that integrate it with the surrounding structure. It seems counterintuitive, but indoor swimming pool environments are wholly and entirely distinct from their outdoor cousins. The differences are mostly contained in the fact that, indoors, the designer needs to consider not only the pool and its hydraulic performance, but also the enclosure and the air-handling and dehumidification systems that makes these spaces comfortable and enjoyable for clients and their guests. Through years of designing and installing indoor pools, we at Omega Pool Structures (Toms River, N.J.) have learned – sometimes the hard way – what works and what doesn’t. Now, supported by more than two decades’ experience, we’ve

Once known only as rare and unusual elements in watershape and landscape designs, fire features have now become familiar in both residential and commercial settings. As Kevin Doud explains, firms dedicated to meeting this growing demand typically offer fully engineered, pre-assembled systems that meet rigorous safety standards – but still have the flexibility it takes to enchant clients while adding flames to the spectrum of aesthetic possibilities.

A Flair with Flames

Fire effects have grown tremendously in popularity in recent years, especially among swimming pool designers and builders who use them in developing various fire-on-water features. On one level, it seems that these professionals (and their clients) have noticed that systems that contain and control fire serve as wonderful complements to systems that contain and control water. On a grander scale, however, it’s apparent that, as watershape designers and builders have become more and more creative, fire features have risen in the estimation of those who want to give their clients something special – something few others have. At my company, Grand Effects of Irvine, Calif., we’ve focused on making it easy for watershapers, general contractors and landscape designers and architects to bring fire into the picture across a range of applications. To that end, we’ve developed an array of completely off-the-shelf systems, ready to install, and have done all of the engineering and testing required to build confidence into every product. In doing so, we’ve studied possible effects and developed

Through the Lens

Welcome to the first installment of “References,” an occasional feature that highlights professionals who contribute to the watershaping process. I (and eventually some others) will be using this space to identify people who have had a significant effect on my work – and to suggest how similar associations might be helpful to other watershapers. This time around, I’ll deal with something that has always been dear to my heart:

Southern California watershaper and landscape architect Scott Cohen is known for wildly creative designs that capture and express his clients’ personalities and aspirations about luxury. Along the way, he’s developed a special touch in developing outdoor cooking and dining areas – a pursuit taken up by many watershapers in recent years and one about which Cohen has written a book whose key recommendations he shares here.

Outdoor Living

If there’s one thing that almost all parties in homes have in common, it’s that people tend to congregate around food and drink in the kitchen. Almost invariably, that’s where the action is. As more and more homeowners are taking their indoor lifestyles outdoors into their backyards and landscapes, the “action” is moving outside as well, with al fresco kitchens becoming the new hub at social gatherings. This is why outdoor kitchens have grown so much in popularity in recent years, moving past being simple counters adjacent to charcoal barbecues to become, according to the American Institute of Architects, the number-one growth category in home improvement. In plying my trade in a sunny, particularly warm part of southern California, I’ve had a front-row seat in watching this trend develop – and I’ve now been designing and building these amenities for more than a quarter century. It’s reached a point where my company, The Green Scene (Northridge, Calif.), builds at least 25 outdoor kitchens every year across a range of styles and levels of complexity. Experience has taught us that the

Material Standards

Call it human nature, free-market economics, the profit motive or whatever – the fact of the matter is that too many landscape lighting installers rely on low-cost products made with low-grade materials. Obviously, they do it to cut down costs either to squeeze more profit out of each job or to bring the price down to the level required to get clients to sign on the dotted line. So rather than reduce the number of fixtures used on a project or even turn down a project altogether, they’re clearly willing to win a job by using equipment that has no chance of lasting more than a

Passion and Practicality

If you ask my employees and manage to get an unguarded response, they’ll tell you that I’m an unrelenting pain in the neck – a real tyrant. That’s because I’m always asking nagging sorts of questions such as, “Why isn’t this project finished yet?” or “How much longer is this going to take?” or “Can you speed things up?” My point in asking, of course, is to let them know on some level that if I were on site and was responsible for what was happening, we’d already be

Premium Pages

If you’re like me, you look forward to the arrival of every issue of this magazine. As I see it, WaterShapes provides information that helps me become better at what I do. It’s also fun to read, informative and wonderfully affirming in that it shows our industry at its very best. It’s truly an indispensible resource, has been responsible for a good measure of the progress the industry has made in the past 12 years – and, unfortunately, it’s also struggling to make headway in a tough marketplace. Let me say this up front: I’m going to lay it on the line about