ARTICLES Archives - Page 293 of 314

Passion Plays

I'm often asked what it takes to write an article for WaterShapes - and, almost as often, why it is that certain voices find their way into print while others don't. I love to field these questions, because they

For more than two decades, California artist Rafe Affleck has been combining the crisp rigidity of stainless steel with the shimmering reflectivity of flowing water to create a substantial and distinctive body of work. His sculptures, in which liquid is much, much more than a mere accent to metal, grace dozens of commercial, public and private spaces, in every case making bold statements that puzzle, delight, sooth or inspire those who pass by.

Liquid Mettle

From the beginning of my career as a sculptor, I've mostly given myself over to two simple elements - metal and water - and have tried to develop approaches that turn one into an extension of the other. I like the sense that a sheet of flowing water completes the simple stainless steel shapes I create. I also like to play with illusion by creating the impression that the water appears to come from nowhere. And I like getting involved in the hydraulics of laminar flow by making the water emerge from steel as a smooth, cohesive sheet. In a sense, I draw constant inspiration from

Texas watershaper Tom Moneta is one who believes that vanishing-edge effects are just too good to be limited to use on swimming pools and fountains. So he and the designers at Leisure Living Pools have spent the past few years perfecting ‘vanishing-edge spas’ – vessels that neatly combine the decorative qualities of waterfeatures with the therapeutic joys of bubbling hot water.

On the Hot Edge

Increasing numbers of our clients are asking for more from their watershapes - so many, in fact, that we're seeing an unprecedented blurring of the lines between swimming pools, spas and the full range of decorative waterfeatures. This demand is particularly strong in one area: In addition to projects that are functional, our clients want them to be visually compelling as well. This need has inspired designers at our firm (and elsewhere) to new levels of creativity. In certain instances, we at Leisure Living Pools in Frisco, Texas, have answered the call with spa designs that

Even for a firm that specializes in massive natural-stone watershapes, this Pennsylvania project was one for the record books. Working for an enthusiastic client who demanded beauty and visual drama on a truly enormous scale, the staff at Glacier Inc. stepped well beyond the usual in renovating a 78-acre private lake while creating a long, cascading stone stream and waterfall – with a grotto thrown in for good measure.

Up on Rocky Top

When you work on projects in which stone is commonly measured in the thousands of tons and streams are frequently described in fractions of miles, you're not easily impressed by size. This job, however, was remarkably vast - a project driven by creative passion and a client's desire to turn a singular vision into reality. It's the kind of opportunity that doesn't come along every day, and when it did, we knew we'd have to give it everything we had. Our company, Glacier Inc. of Glenshaw, Pa., is a design and construction firm specializing in large natural and naturalistic bodies of water, and most of our work includes

Sometimes, watershaping projects flow smoothly from start to finish. Other times, however, the path to integrating setting, hardscape, plants and water within bounds of the clients’ desires and budget can be quite complicated. The project seen here falls into the second category, says designer Kathy Marosz, but 18 months of communication, revision and compromise eventually resulted in a tapestry rich in color, texture, style and sound.

Custom Integrations

I'm always looking for projects where I'm brought in to design the entire exterior environment, complete with hardscape, planting plans and watershapes. Working this way gives me a straight shot at integrating all of these major elements into cohesive designs that fit the setting. But I believe in collaboration, too, and in giving interested clients an opportunity to participate in the process. I listen carefully to what they say, factor in their budgets and then start working toward a suitable design. This integrated approach often requires intensive and extensive interaction with homeowners. Through it all, I'm flexible - but I'm also confident in my abilities, experience and expertise and generally end up installing something that closely matches my sense of the way things should be. When it works, everything goes smoothly. In the case of the project pictured in these pages, however, the process has been much more involved and is, 18 months into it, still ongoing in

Starting with Gardens

For watershapers looking to grow into broad, integrated exterior designs that extend beyond the water's edge, The Garden Design Book (compiled by Cheryl Merser and the editors of Garden Design magazine) is a great place to start. Published by Harper-Collins in 1997, the book draws on years of articles published in the magazine, a wonderful publication for both amateur and professional gardeners. Throughout the 300+ beautifully illustrated pages, Merser and company offer a huge stock of valuable information for those in quest of complete environments. Merser is not a designer, and one of the things I like most about the book is that she

Making the Grade on Slabs

If you're a watershaper of any kind, odds are that you build concrete slabs. You build them to create decks, set up equipment pads, establish sub-bases for finish materials - and for a variety of other essential construction purposes. No matter the application, it's important to build these slabs to last, which invariably means building them correctly. This isn't something that's important just for mega-buck projects: No matter whether you're working on $20,000 cookie-cutter pools or on custom projects at the very highest level, knowing how to

Palms Up

When you think of palms, it's easy to conjure visions of Hawaii or some other tropical paradise. These graceful plants evoke a sense of serenity and thoughts of calm tropical breezes - and maybe even memories of a cool mai tai in your hand. Unfortunately for lots of us, palms thrive only in warmer climates. In the United States, for example, they generally do not grow north of the 33rd parallel, which stretches roughly from Northern California on the West Coast to South Carolina on the East Coast. This geographic factor is the main reason I haven't discussed palms before in this column. After three years, however, I figure I'm

The Best Medicine

At nearly five months and counting, it's clear that many of us are still trying to sort out, understand and learn to live with the events of September 11, 2001 - and I suspect that, on some levels, we will be doing so for months or even years to come. Over and over again, we've been told how our lives are now different. Although it'll still take us a while to find out what "different" really means, we know already that we've lost a certain amount of innocence. We've also lost a certain naiveté about the way things are in the wide world and are now reevaluating many things, from big important issues such as airport security to more modest concerns such as

Fountains of Use

I had the pleasure early in December of attending the first-ever Genesis 3 Fountain School in Toronto. As we've often discussed in these pages, Genesis 3's programs are loaded with useful