ARTICLES Archives - Page 206 of 315

Into the Ground

Given the fact that swimming pools and most other watershapes are placed in the ground, I've long been of the opinion that it's incumbent upon all of us who design and build them to have a basic understanding of soils science and geology. As has been stated in this magazine and elsewhere more times than I can count, the nature of the ground we build in (or on) has everything to do with the structures we design. Indeed, the composition and structure of the soils we encounter may well be the most fundamental of all the technical issue we ever face. Simply put, a watershape that's properly engineered in light of prevailing soil conditions will endure, while one that isn't runs a significant and often inevitable risk of structural failure. Relatively few of us who read WaterShapes are civil engineers, soils scientists or geologists, but all of us

Making Headway

What happens when you take a large group of landscape architecture students and, for a solid week, rigorously school them in the fundamentals of watershaping? You might be surprised: Even though that seems like a short span, my charges took to watershaping like fish to water when I introduced them to the subject this past spring - and the results were both remarkable and inspiring. As their instructor, I witnessed not only their keen interest but also saw ample evidence that they were applying highly refined design processes and quality design productions in their watershape-related coursework. So despite what some skeptics have been telling me for years, you actually can

Off the Shelf

I recently began work on a design for clients who live in a historic home just south of Rochester, N.Y. They've asked me to incorporate a pool, entertainment areas, a fireplace and a combined pool house/garage into the available space and make certain it all complements the architecture of the home and its only current outbuilding - a 150-year-old storage shed. Sitting at my drafting table, I was thinking how easy this one would be, conceptually at least. All I needed was there, from the home's architecture and an existing (and much beloved) 100-year-old pergola to the old shed, so the main challenge would come in drawing the details rather than in deciding what to do. Usually, of course, it's the other way around and

Planting Places

Growing as a designer is often a matter of seeing things from fresh perspectives. As one with roots in the pool industry, for example, I once thought first about water and about plants and softscape later (if at all). That bias isn't uncommon, of course: I know plenty of landscape architects and designers who think about plants first and only later consider water. It all has to do with our

Digging the Scene

You never know where and when a good time will unfold. That thought certainly crossed my mind late in July, when I attended "The World's Most Extreme Pond Build" at Aquascape's headquarters in St. Charles, Ill. That company, which manufactures a variety of pond, stream and waterfall systems and accessories, has been remarkably successful through the past decade: In that span, it's built a

Beyond the Edge

Last month, I did my usual annual roundup of books that feature custom residential swimming pools. I must confess that I deliberately withheld one such book from the usual summary treatment because it was just too good for me not to give it a full column's attention this time around. The book - Infinity Pools by Ana G. Canizares (Collins Design, 2006) - is one of the best on pools as a design genre that I've ever seen. In fact, one of the few things I don't like about it is the title, because I've always preferred the term "vanishing edge." That quibble aside, I think she's done a terrific job of presenting what has to be the most powerful, influential design look of the past 20 years. More important, she manages to do so without making these pools seem a visual cliché. As is demonstrated repeatedly

Illuminating Footsteps

It's not an uncommon goal: Nearly all of the homeowners I speak with about lighting designs want to be able to move safely and comfortably around their properties at night. Perhaps more important, they want guests and others unfamiliar with those spaces to be able to do the same without anyone being concerned about suffering an injury as a result of a misstep brought on by darkness or glare. The interesting this is, some of my clients need convincing when it comes to path or step lighting: Even if they see

Tumbling Down

Reading WaterShapes' 100th issue brought back memories of when I first discovered the magazine and my early conversations with its editor, Eric Herman. I remember thinking at that time - or at least hoping - that there really were lots of other people out there in the design/build world who truly aim to do things right, first time, every time. In looking over the poster included with the issue, I spotted the one from January 2000 with a photograph I'd taken of one of our projects - a retaining wall under construction. I don't know quite why, but that image made me think of a site I visited last year where a retaining wall built by inexperienced hands was in the process of collapsing. And not only was the wall falling apart, but it was also compromising the fence atop it as well as a concrete patio, a storage shed and an inground pool it was intended to bolster. I couldn't help thinking that, as far as our industry has come in the past decade, there are always going to be those who

On a Wire

Several years back, I was in a seminar at the International Pool & Spa Expo when the instructor asked everyone who had an e-mail address to raise a hand. Way back then - it was in the late 1980s or perhaps even the early '90s - using the Internet for communication was a brand-new concept to most people and there were only a few people in the room who lifted an arm. I wasn't one of them, and at that point I had no idea that e-mail and Web sites would ever become such an integral part of my life. At that time, in fact, I didn't think I'd ever need an e-mail address. After all, I

Seeking Solutions

Back in October 1989, I was on the second day of a new job working with Jim McCloskey for another pool/spa industry magazine when he called me into his office and suggested that I might want to spend my evening at a meeting of the