ARTICLES Archives - Page 187 of 315

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

The Tastes of Summer

For all the technical savvy, design sophistication and overall smarts demanded of those who reach for the heights in the aquatic arts, I’m often reminded that, at its core, watershaping is largely about fun and enjoyment. For years now, that message has come through in any number of ways in these pages. Take the columns of Brian Van Bower: Just about every month, he does an amazing job of persuading us that watershaping is really about good times and the pursuit of the good life. And he’s not alone in repeatedly driving home the point that

Capturing a Gift from the Skies

The numbers are eye-popping: Just about one percent of all the water on Planet Earth exists as fresh water suitable for human consumption. And depending on where you live in the United States, anywhere from a quarter to almost half of that precious resource

Reviewing a Decade of ‘Book Notes’

Interview by Lenny Giteck Veteran readers of WaterShapes will recognize the name Mike Farley as the author of "Book Notes," the magazine's long-running and highly popular book review column. For the past decade, Mike has brought a world of useful material to

Face-Lift for Face Rings

Some people say there are unattractive things we just can't avoid in installing our watershapes, including the visual intrusions provided by junction boxes, drain covers, skimmer lids, deck drains, pool cover key switches, spa-side remotes and all sorts of other things I refer to as "architectural uglies." Personally (and I know I'm not alone), I've never been satisfied

Saltwater: A Convenient Scapegoat?

For the past several years, a number of people in the swimming pool industry have debated whether saltwater has a detrimental effect on concrete and, in some cases, on stone decks. As one who has worked extensively with saltwater chlorination systems, I've studied this issue in depth in