ARTICLES Archives - Page 215 of 316

Ends and Beginnings

If you’ll recall, I used this space last month to say farewell to David Tisherman’s “Details” column. His departure left us with a significant role to fill – especially given how provocative his column had been through the years. As often happens when a key person departs an organization, we weighed the available options and, not to flatter David overmuch, decided that replacing a voice so singular would best be accomplished by

Pond and stream specialist Steve Sandalis has a penchant for creating dramatic watershape settings for residential clients who want something well beyond the ordinary. His firm’s expertise is on full display in this challenging project, which features a steep cascading waterfall, a stream and a pond suitable both for fish and for swimming – all executed in a confined space at the bottom of a narrow canyon.

Mining Their Dreams

Dream jobs seem to come in bunches for watershapers: If you do the best work you possibly can, apply your education, stand by your work and, most of all, leave your clients happy, nice things that happen with one job seem to lead almost inevitably to other great jobs. That’s exactly what happened with this project: I was led to it by satisfied clients who became my best salespeople and told all their friends how delighted they were with the work we’d done and how much they were enjoying the results. By the time I actually met this new client, there was no question about us having the inside track; indeed, we just jumped right into the job’s specifics. From the start, we were given tremendous creative freedom, there was no big concern about budget and the work was all about

When a St. Louis-area developer wanted water to be a prominent part of a new project in nearby St. Charles, Mo., says Anne Gunn, it made sense for him to contact Hydro Dramatics, a local firm that has created an impressive list of fountains and other waterfeatures throughout the region. In this case, the need was for a set of floating fountains to set the tone for his development while linking it to history – and a pair of famous rivers.

Local Pride

Sometimes finding just what you need is as easy as looking in your own backyard. That’s what happened for Greg Whittaker of Whittaker Homes, one of Missouri’s largest home builders, when he began searching for the right partner to provide dramatic watershapes for New Town, an innovative community in St. Charles, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis. Situated on the site of what had been a farming community, New Town is intended to invoke and embody a comfortable lifestyle for the 21st Century. Parklands filled with water were the key to Whittaker’s vision not just for aesthetic and thematic reasons, but also for stormwater management. While visiting St. Louis’ Forest Park, a venerable civic treasure, Whittaker saw the

As watershaping becomes an independent design discipline, says architect Greg Danskin, there's increasing cause for watershapers to interact with and more fully understand what architects do and how they do it. Here, he offers his suggestions toward building that familiarity, starting by defining the nature of his profession and exploring the common ground upon which watershapers and architects operate.

The Architect Connection

Those of us in the design and construction industry are engaged in a singularly complicated human endeavor. To make things work, it’s common for many technical disciplines to come together, including soils and structural engineers and contractors and subcontractors as well as architects, interior designers, landscape architects, lighting designers and watershapers – all working in concert to bring form to the goals and aspirations of the clients. These professionals unite in designing spaces that people use and occupy – a simple yet profound thread that ties all of us engaged in any given project together. Through our combined efforts, we

As a watershaper who frequently executes designs based on unusual requests, Randy Beard know the role clients’ daydreams and cherished memories can play in the process. In the project discussed here, for example, he helped a young couple turn their travels and spirit of adventure into a design that accommodates a variety of recreational activities for their children – and swashbuckling fun for themselves as well.

Imagination at Play

With every new project, we always strive to create unique watershapes that reflect particular clients’ wants, needs, dreams and imaginations. What this means, given the fact that every client is an individual, is that no two of our pools are ever quite the same. In the case described in this article, for example, the clients’ distinctive personalities led us to create something that’s more like a waterpark than a residential pool/spa combination. In a very real sense, it reflects their personalities and a sense of the magic they find in certain chapters of our history – a special space for them to enjoy with their children. The clients purchased the newly built home on a hill overlooking the ocean in

The Color of Sales

As a rule, I’ve resisted the temptation to cover books about sales in these columns. I’ve read a great many of those books through the years, and I’ve always tended to think of them as buffets where I pick up useful insights, wisdom or motivation – and ignore suggestions that don’t seem as useful. But no single book I’ve run into has proved to be so helpful that I’ve felt compelled to share it with you here. At last, however, I’ve found an exception – a wonderful book by emerging sales guru Jeffrey Gitomer called The Little Red Book of Selling (Bard Press, 2004). I picked up a copy of this compact 220-page volume two years ago at an airport bookstore (and have picked up a couple more since then), and I see why Gitomer is becoming one of the leading voices when it comes to sales. He may not have reached the same status as Zig Ziglar or Dale Carnegie (both of whom I admire greatly), but his star is

Forward Motion

There’s truth to the notion that the only thing that’s permanent in human endeavors is change. For the past seven years, I’ve had the privilege of sharing with you scores of details, insights, opinions and descriptions of the watershaping process, always hoping that, through words and images, I might influence the way some of you approach your work. It’s been a pleasure throughout, but the time has come for me to change things up, step aside and let other

Making Meadows

My part of New York hasn’t been hit too hard so far, but it seems these days as though much of the United States is in the throes of a sustained and (in places) severe drought. Even where I am, we’re in what the meteorologists are calling a “moderate” dry spell. This turn of events has made me determined to design landscapes requiring as little water as possible – one consequence being that I now do all I can to avoid using large expanses of

An Edgy Detail

It’s true for any watershaper: No matter how varied the work you do, it never hurts to be known for the ability to do something special – and for doing it exceptionally well. Through the years, for example, my firm has polished its ability to provide our clients with watershapes reflecting a wide variety of tastes, styles and features, but to an extent that sometimes surprises even me, we’re known among prospective clients for

All Good Things

It seems strange to write these words: In this issue, please find the last of David Tisherman’s “Details” columns. After seven years, he has decided that these monthly discussions have run their course and that it’s time to step aside. During those seven years, David has