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Concrete is so essential to the work of watershapers and so pervasive in all forms of construction that it's a bit too easy to take it for granted. Using myself as an example, I'll confess to having fairly thin knowledge of the material, its history and the myriad uses to which it is put to use - until, that is, I looked through Concrete: A Pictorial Celebration (published by the American Concrete Institute in 2004). This wonderful, 260-page book offers a (mostly) visual tour of the fantastic and utterly essential applications of concrete that have indelibly marked the advance of modern society, worldwide. It's organized into several sections, each one chock full great photos accompanied by informative, albeit brief, textual passages. It's not a technical discussion by any means; instead, it's an almost dizzying tour of the
Sometimes, it's the simple things that trip you up. As a case in point, I was recently called by a homeowner who was wondering why the tile was falling off the outside wall of a raised pool that had just been installed by another builder. Unfortunately, that builder apparently hadn't known how to pull off this standard detail. The pool had been raised eight inches out of the ground in keeping with the design intent. This is a detail I use frequently to create a seating area around pools, but I was a bit mystified by this particular choice of elevation: It was too high to be a step (most building codes call for maximum 7-1/2-inch outdoor risers) and too low to serve very well as a bench. (Actually, it was just about right for
I was all set to write a column about the virtues of small jobs compared to big jobs, but I've had an experience that leads me to share something more important with you this time. Most of us have had these moments in our lives in which we are suddenly jarred into evaluating our existence for one reason or another - episodes that give us reason to pause and reflect on who we are and what we're doing and why we're doing it. As I write this, I'm dealing with an illness in my family that has quite literally knocked the legs out from under me. As I've spent time these past few days talking with friends and relatives, I've found myself quite often laying on the living-room couch and staring out the window into my backyard - and finding
If you've been reading WaterShapes for any length of time, you've probably noticed that we take more than a bit of pride in presenting the arts and crafts of watershaping in the broadest possible ways. From modest and subtle to bold and elaborate, the work
The Chicago Botanic Garden is located, oddly enough, a good 40 miles from that city in the suburb of Glencoe, Ill. And although it is specifically named for the Midwest’s greatest city and might seem a municipal endeavor, it is actually maintained by private donations and serves to display the entire region’s rich flora and scenic beauty. The garden is organized around a large body of water known as the Great Basin, which was created some 60 years ago by dredging the area and diverting the Skokie River to create a series of islands and lagoons. The largest island, known as Evening Island, was the initial focus of our work in redesigning the space. My firm, Oehme, van Sweden and Associates of Washington, D.C., became involved in the project
We all know that plants are beautiful in daylight. Perhaps less well known is the vast visual potential they posses when carefully and thoughtfully lit at night. It's no small challenge. Indeed, maximizing the beauty of most any landscape while also ensuring that your lighting design works well throughout the lifetime of the landscape requires a keen understanding of both plant materials and the lighting techniques that will bring them to life when the sun goes down. Furthermore, surrounding watershapes with well-lit spaces and foliage will add a distinctive aesthetic dimension to the overall design. To my mind, there's no substitute for paying attention to every plant in the plan, because overlooking any of them or ignoring the role each has to play in the overall landscape will almost invariably detract from the effectiveness of the lighting design. You can't overlook technology, either, or the need to sort through the variety of techniques that can be used to light plants while keeping an eye on a wide range of practical, aesthetic and creative issues. When you encompass all of this successfully, the results will often
Our projects generally take two forms. On the one hand, we're called upon to "heal" ailing bodies of water that have been set up with inadequate or improperly functioning circulation and filtration systems. Although other people's mistakes mean good business for us, I won't say that we ever look forward to seeing potentially beautiful ponds or lakes cursed by unappealing or even unhealthy water conditions. On the other hand, we often have the opportunity to join a project at the design phase and handle the installation as well, applying what we know about water quality from the first conceptualization of the watershape. That's always a welcome prospect: Not only is it exciting to
In this business, there's no avoiding the fact that you have to be able to work with people. That may seem an obvious point, but if you're like me and tend toward the shy side, stepping out of your shell to work with others is not always easy. I've always admired those with easy-going social skills, but I've never been one of them - and I know in this industry that I'm far from alone. In my case, I've found my way around my basic tendencies by taking advice I've found to be incredibly helpful in my work with clients as well as in my relationships with sub-contractors and fellow employees. That advice comes from one of the true classics of 20th-century American publishing, none other than Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. If you're not familiar with this volume beyond its name, you might be impressed by the fact that Carnegie's seminal self-help book was first published in
Understanding the client is frequently the most important factor in creating a successful design. In the case of the project highlighted here, for example, it was a given that the clients were highly educated and knowledgeable with respect to design, style and materials: He's a top-flight graphic designer with an amazing grasp of color, line, architectural details, presentation materials and techniques; she's a degreed interior designer with a wonderful artistic flair. They're also two of my best friends: He and I taught together at UCLA and have known each other for more years than I care to admit. They've known about the focus of my business for years and said they hadn't wanted to call me because the project