ARTICLES Archives - Page 269 of 326

Chemical Solutions

When it comes to watershapes designed for human interaction - including pools, spas and fountains - the chemical treatment of the water is a key safety issue that can be handled in a variety of ways. Indeed, says water-chemistry expert Jeff Freeman, so many products and so many approaches are available that the average designer or builder could probably use a bit of guidance to help them keep everything straight, both for themselves and their clients.

As commercial and institutional aquatic facilities become increasingly multi-dimensional, says architect/watershaper Treadwell Jones, they also need to move beyond being simply functional to make strong aesthetic statements as well. Here, he defines the opportunities designers have to move beyond the boxy rectangular designs of years gone by, using his own recent work to illustrate some of the compelling and creative possibilities.

Public Statements

When it comes to the old buildings that people most want to preserve, the good-looking ones always top the list. These structures are cherished because they make strong aesthetic statements and are often associated with a given period of history, a particular architect or a specific design movement. As an architect working to create public and institutional aquatic complexes, I try to think of my designs in those enduring terms. In other words, I want to develop watershapes that make strong aesthetic statements and therefore have a chance to be cherished and therefore stand a better chance of being preserved, well used and enjoyed for generations to come. I do so because a facility that is both functional and beautiful will, I think, inevitably be of greater value to its community than one that is simply functional. Ugly buildings do the exact same job as beautiful ones in sheltering human activities, but which are more likely to generate excitement, enjoyment and value for the long haul? The answer, I think, is obvious. As a result, I see aquatic facilities as places that should be

Picture Perfect

It's unfortunate, but all too often watershapers and landscape professionals go to extraordinary lengths in designing and building beautiful spaces - then don't take care of business when it comes to capturing those spaces with quality photographs. This is despite the fact that photography is hugely important to so many of us, if only to give us a worthy photographic record of our work to use in marketing and selling future projects. These images make up our portfolios, dress up our offices and showrooms and serve as

On the Beam

Let me make an important point: As interesting as some of the details I discuss in these columns may be, many of the more significant ones wouldn't have any substance or value to my clients without the contributions of one very important person: my friend Mark Smith of Tarzana, Calif., whose firm takes care of my structural engineering. I'd go so far to say that he and his staff are critically important external members of my design team - professionals who know more than I will ever know about steel, concrete, tension and compression. Every single project I design and build is fully, individually engineered, and I refuse to make any assumptions on my own about what might be

All About Bark

As an artist, I tend to look at the world with an eye to "distinction" - that is, what makes certain objects stand out, what makes them appear round, what makes them catch my eye, what makes me notice them. By contrast, most "civilians" notice overall appearances. If they're in a garden, for example, they will enjoy the sea of shapes and colors and will generally respond to a particular plant or design element only if it really stands out in some way. Knowing this, I like to play in my garden designs with elements of visual control and on finding ways to direct what the viewer will look at first, then second and so on. In lots of my gardens, I use trees to capture this sort of attention. Even uninspired observers will take note of

Too Busy to Care?

Almost everyone I've talked to recently is busier than ever these days. And it's across the boards, from landscape architects and designers to pool and spa builders and subcontractors of every type: Everyone is swamped, and this year in particular they all seem to be having trouble just keeping up. The odd thing is that nobody I've spoken with has an entirely clear idea why this year is so busy. At best, the economy is mixed: oil and gas prices are through the roof, the stock market has been extremely inconsistent and consumer confidence has been shaky. Yet watershaping projects just seem to keep on rolling, no matter the news. One undeniable factor seems to be driving this demand - that is, the

Heritage

It's been a subject of discussion among my parents and siblings that bodies of water - swimming pools in particular - have been an unusually important part of the lives of my own immediate family. I've spent the greater part of my career writing about all things aquatic while my

Taking great pride in developing watershape and landscape designs that combine an appreciation for the setting with an understanding of the clients’ tastes, Roger and Sheri Soares have prospered for years on the high end of the hotly competitive Phoenix marketplace. In this project, they took advantage of spectacular views, blended their work into a hillside and worked out all the harmonic links between the desert and the home’s modern style.

Completely Contemporary

It's a rare project in which a watershaper has the opportunity to execute a complete design without compromise. In our Scottsdale, Ariz.-based business, we often work with upscale clients on custom pool and spa installations, and it seems that there's always some element or other in the design that ends up being altered or left out. It sometimes reaches the point where we start to feel as though the result, although it may be satisfying to the client, is not fully reflective of our talent, our vision or our best effort. The project pictured in these pages, however, is a dramatic exception to that rule. Although the clients were involved with general suggestions during the design process and construction project, when it came down to details of the plan, they let us go ahead and create an environment that fully reflected our creative vision. They'd seen one of our projects in a local "Street of Dreams" program in which area contractors were selected to build spec homes on the same street in a town just north of Scottdale called Troon. Once the row of home was completed, there were tours, awards and lots of media coverage - quite the high-profile affair. The clients had been in contact with four or five different pool builders in the area, but they'd

As specialists in highly customized backyard environments, Scott Cohen and his staff at The Green Scene are known for adding elements of whimsy and fun to their work. Here, he guides us through three recent projects that turn thematically on his clients’ love of entertaining and desire to set a stage for sharing their good fortune with friends. As the tour demonstrates, they’ve found ways both bold and subtle to build a party atmosphere.

Libation Sensations

Most people I know have a favorite vacation spot, a favorite leisure-time activity and a favorite form of self-indulgence. In creating backyard environments for these folks, we as watershapers and landscape designers often find ourselves able to roll elements of one, two or all three of those "favorite things" up in a single package in ways that closely reflect our clients' passions and personalities. At my company, we strive to make a direct connection with those preferences by letting our prospective clients know that we want to enable them to vacation in their own backyards and come home to outdoor environments that epitomize the good life. In some cases, that means

The works of sculptor David Curt Morris often combine moving water with simple yet striking shapes in glass or metal. His meticulous compositions speak to observers by juxtaposing the kinetic potential of water against static structures – perhaps something as simple as water flowing over glass surfaces – to exploit what he calls the ‘colors’ of water in motion in a philosophy and a design approach that cuts to the essence of what watershaping is all about.

Water in Sculpture

I'm particularly interested in the behavior of water. To me as a sculptor, differing water flows and their textures are like "colors" to a painter: I find a color that holds meaning for me and then look for a structural form that can present it. To this extent, my artistic medium is the behavior of water and the means to make it behave. The sculpture in this case is water combined with a structure in steel, stone and equipment. The work is abstract: abstractions of feelings related to the movement of people, animals, fish and the flows of water in streams, rivers, rain - even the flow of numbers. As a result, I need metaphors and feelings to drive my creative expressions, then use water and other sculptural elements in much the same way a choreographer might use line and gesture to express a feeling or a composer will use chord changes and musical phrasing. My hope is that, in creating forms that are meaningful to me, other