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As the list of columns and articles appearing on these pages has grown longer and longer through the years, it has often been my pleasant duty to use my own column to call attention to
As the list of columns and articles appearing on these pages has grown longer and longer through the years, it has often been my pleasant duty to use my own column to call attention to
The design and installation of the circulation, filtration and chemical-treatment systems for the pools at St. Lucia's Jade Mountain was a task of monumental proportions and extreme technical, physical and logistical difficulty. The effort was spearheaded by watershaper/hydraulics expert Chris Barnes, who spent months on site installing precision systems engineered to provide years of nearly maintenance-free service. Installing the circulation systems for the pools at Jade Mountain was a challenge unlike any other. I was first approached about the project by my good friend, Skip Phillips, who explained that he had already been working on the project's design for several years and indicated that it was going to be something truly amazing. He observed that the owner and his design team didn't have anyone in place with any experience with the installation of extremely complex watershapes and suggested that I might be the one to step up to the challenge and keep
Looking for a surface material as unique as the resort itself, the designers of Jade Mountain turned to David Knox of Lightstreams to create completely original tile products for use in the structure's 25 vanishing-edge pools, with each one to have its own unique colors and optical qualities. Here, Knox describes the process of deploying glass tiles throughout one of the world's most unique and extensive watershape environments. For me, Jade Mountain is not simply a resort in St Lucia: It's more of a spiritual and artistic achievement - and one I helped fashion through a period of 15 months. I felt that sense of operating on a higher plane during my first visit to the parent resort, Anse Chastanet, in March 2005. There was something different about the project, just as there was
Looking for a surface material as unique as the resort itself, the designers of Jade Mountain turned to David Knox of Lightstreams to create completely original tile products for use in the structure's 25 vanishing-edge pools, with each one to have its own unique colors and optical qualities. Here, Knox describes the process of deploying glass tiles throughout one of the world's most unique and extensive watershape environments. For me, Jade Mountain is not simply a resort in St Lucia: It's more of a spiritual and artistic achievement - and one I helped fashion through a period of 15 months. I felt that sense of operating on a higher plane during my first visit to the parent resort, Anse Chastanet, in March 2005. There was something different about the project, just as there was
By now, we all know that pools and certain other watershape forms have been around since ancient times. It's my strong suspicion, however, that most of us who design and build backyard swimming pools today would fail a pop quiz about those who pioneered the 20th-century genre of pool design. I was among you in not knowing, for instance, about the seminal role played in this arena by a man named Garrett Eckbo - this despite the fact that he's one of the icons of landscape architecture. As a founding member of (and the "E" in) EDAW, Eckbo was responsible for some of the grandest public spaces in the United States. He was also, it seems, an innovator in residential garden and pool design who put his stamp on just about every basic pool form we use today. I picked up this knowledge from a book by Marc Treib and Dorothy Imbert called Garrett Eckbo: Modern Landscapes for Living (University of California Press, 1997). The 190-page volume covers the major career phases of a California-based designer and longtime professor who
By now, we all know that pools and certain other watershape forms have been around since ancient times. It's my strong suspicion, however, that most of us who design and build backyard swimming pools today would fail a pop quiz about those who pioneered the 20th-century genre of pool design. I was among you in not knowing, for instance, about the seminal role played in this arena by a man named Garrett Eckbo - this despite the fact that he's one of the icons of landscape architecture. As a founding member of (and the "E" in) EDAW, Eckbo was responsible for some of the grandest public spaces in the United States. He was also, it seems, an innovator in residential garden and pool design who put his stamp on just about every basic pool form we use today. I picked up this knowledge from a book by Marc Treib and Dorothy Imbert called Garrett Eckbo: Modern Landscapes for Living (University of California Press, 1997). The 190-page volume covers the major career phases of a California-based designer and longtime professor who
Last time, I described (at great length, as you may have noticed) what happens in the time between my initial phone conversation with clients and a point just ahead of my formal presentation of a design. It's an involved process that uses all of the information I've gleaned from my clients about what they want, what they think they need and what they ultimately expect to have in their backyard environments. It's about understanding the underlying circumstances, deciding what should be done and, finally, assembling all of that insight into a
Last time, I described (at great length, as you may have noticed) what happens in the time between my initial phone conversation with clients and a point just ahead of my formal presentation of a design. It's an involved process that uses all of the information I've gleaned from my clients about what they want, what they think they need and what they ultimately expect to have in their backyard environments. It's about understanding the underlying circumstances, deciding what should be done and, finally, assembling all of that insight into a
As much as I love cold weather, I have to concede that we experienced way too much of a good thing this past winter. Long periods of extremely cold weather are the norm in many other parts of the country, and plants survive. Here, however, our local plants may be accustomed to surviving the isolated sub-freezing night, but sustained, frosty temperatures lasting nearly a week are something they weren't meant to handle. I'm sure you've seen the results of our cold snap in the news: Much of the state's citrus population - yes, coincidentally, the wonderful treats I wrote about in last month's column - has sustained long-term damage and the trees in many cases will take two years and more to recover. And that doesn't just affect us here: The rippling effects will be felt in
