ARTICLES Archives - Page 296 of 314

Stone is the world’s most enduring building material, observes designer Bobbie Schwartz – and the history of its use offers watershapers points of inspiration that stretch across continents as well as the centuries. Here, in the third article in her series on classic stonework, she brings her exploration of the timeless qualities of stone to a close with a look at more of the great exterior spaces she’s found in her travels.

Lasting Impressions

Whether you choose to replicate old stone structures or borrow ideas and transplant them into contemporary designs, there is certainly a treasure trove of design concepts to be found in the masterworks of those who've gone before us. Indeed, stone has been the raw material of choice for many of the world's greatest architects, landscapers and watershapers, each of whom has relied on stone and its timelessness in fashioning works of beauty. In the first two articles in this series, we toured

Rendering Creativity

Among the most useful and influential books I've read in my career as a landscape architect and watershape designer is Color Drawing by Michael E. Doyle (John Wiley & Sons, 2nd edition, 1999). I went in to landscape architecture mainly because I wanted to learn to do beautiful hand-drawn renderings and presentations. I'd started drafting in 7th grade, always really enjoyed the process and, even though I'm far from a great natural talent, have always seen drawing as a

The tale of a river is often told by the life within it, observes Hal Hagen, the one-time owner and operator of a fish hatchery who has since become a specialist in restoring natural waterways. Here, he explains his unique approach to a highly specialized form of watershaping – and discusses how understanding the way nature works in the wild can inform, enable and empower those seeking to replicate it in their man-made streams.

The Soul of the River

I live in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado on the banks of the Arkansas River - a beautiful place and a beautiful river. Within easy reach of my home, the Arkansas flows swiftly in certain spaces, cascading over rugged terrain, then slows down in others to form deep pools that reflect brilliant skies and create a diversity of aquatic habitats. As I watch the river flow, sometimes I can't help thinking back to my days at a trout hatchery and recognizing that if we'd had such a volume of moving water available to us in our operation, we could have produced millions more pounds of healthy fish. I'm simply amazed by the power and complexity of the water I watch, and especially by its ability to

The Soul of the River

I live in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado on the banks of the Arkansas River - a beautiful place and a beautiful river. Within easy reach of my home, the Arkansas flows swiftly in certain spaces, cascading over rugged terrain, then slows down in others to form deep pools that reflect brilliant skies and create a diversity of aquatic habitats. As I watch the river flow, sometimes I can't help thinking back to my days at a trout hatchery and recognizing that if we'd had such a volume of moving water available to us in our operation, we could have produced millions more pounds of healthy fish. I'm simply amazed by the power and complexity of the water I watch, and especially by its ability to

Necks, Heads and Shoulders

I'm amazed at how few watershapers keep the size and shape of the average body in mind or consider the science of ergonomics when they design projects for their clients. Just think about how much more we can do to increase their comfort and enjoyment by doing so, particularly when it comes to custom concrete spas. Take a look at the average spa attached to the typical pool: On a great many of them, you'll see a cantilevered deck around the edges. From the perspective of

Contain Yourself

We've spent a lot of time in these columns talking about ways of adding dimension and interest to gardens by using different planting styles and arrangements and by varying color, texture, size, quantity and other planted features of the design. As yet, however, we haven't spent any time at all on one of the easiest and potentially most interesting ways of giving a design a unique character - one that virtually forces visitors to remember your garden. It's all about containers and accessories. As simple as it seems, adding containers and other accessories - anything from simple terra cotta pots or stone benches to elaborately custom-built planter boxes or beautifully detailed garden statuary - can add marks of

Paying the Front-Runner’s Fee

I've always been excited by innovation. I place creativity high on my list of aspirations and priorities in my own business, and I think my life gets most interesting when I'm involved with people who are similarly attuned to this desire to do and try new and interesting things. Fortunately, I've had the benefit of associating with highly innovative people through the years who've shared the creative process with me, taught me a lot and made the ride extremely enjoyable - and fruitful. These experiences have filled me with a desire to be out front myself with innovative and creative ideas. I often wonder where we would all be if some of us weren't willing to

Watching Rivers Run

There's a fascinating conceptual relationship between man-made bodies of water and those created by nature. On the one hand, the most accomplished

Nature has it’s own set of rules, observes horticulturalist and zoologist Jeff Rugg of Pond Supplies of America. If you work in harmony with those rules, you stand a good chance of being successful in creating systems that support plant and animal life. Work against them, he says, and nature will soon show you the error of your ways. Here’s a look at what it takes to make the balancing act work, from pond sizing to basic equipment and materials.

Practicing Nature’s Balance

It all begins with the water. The first thing anyone approaching the world of ponds needs to understand is that life-supporting water is quite unlike the sterile water found in swimming pools or spas or many other watershapes. A second and related point is that clear water is not necessarily healthy water when it comes to the needs of the inhabitants of the pond. For a pond to be healthy, its water must meet the chemical requirements of plants and fish by having an abundance of some things (such as nutrients) and a near-total lack of other things (such as pollutants). Sanitized water may be beautifully clear, but the fact that sterile systems are designed to knock out nutrients and work chemically because they are "polluted" with chlorine and algaecides makes them completely unsuitable as life-supporting ecosystems. The goal with ponds is to work with nature in balancing the life-sustaining features of the water - and to set things up in such a way that maintaining that balance will be something your clients can do long after you've moved along to another project. To do so, you need to embrace the water-quality basics outlined in the last issue of

There’s more to successful watershapes than good looks, observes Greg Stoks of Commercial Aquatics Engineering. This was particularly true of the trademark fountains of the Rainforest Cafés, a collection of elaborately themed family restaurants designed to mimic tropical environments: Troubles with the chain’s first few locations, he says, prompted owners to call for help in curing what were becoming costly water-related headaches.

Streamlined for Paradise

An important part of creating beautiful commercial watershapes is designing systems that actually work, effectively and enduringly, within the requirements and constraints of their given settings. This has become a real issue in the fountain business, where new demand is popping up at locations as diverse as resorts, malls, hotels, art pavilions, office buildings, convention centers, museums and even restaurants - and a few too many good-looking designs have been pulled out, significantly downsized or turned into planters because they just haven't performed as needed or