ARTICLES Archives - Page 301 of 314

All Around You

It's amazing what can happen when you begin to look at the world through open eyes and with an open heart. More often than not, things that were once taken for granted or that

From Pebble Beach to Augusta National, water and the game of golf share a storied history – and the relationship is growing even closer, says landscape architect and watershaper Ken Alperstein of Pinnacle Design. As new courses compete for major tournaments and real estate sales on adjoining properties, course architects are using streams, ponds and lakes to make aesthetic statements – and giving watershapers a chance to work on the grandest scale.

Of all the sports, there's none that relies more on the art of landscaping than golf. The contours of the land, the style, size and placement of plantings, the use of elaborate stonework and the installation of substantial bodies of water often define not only the competitive challenge of the game but the ambiance and character of the entire golfing experience. This is especially true of championship golf courses, where designers seek ways to stretch the envelope in terms of the way the game is played and in the physical beauty of the courses themselves. In their search for true distinction, many have turned to the use of

Valued for their varying colors and ability to provide both point-source and band-lighting effects, fiberoptic lighting systems have been a popular choice in and around aquatic environments for many years. Their variety offers designers a most useful level of design flexibility, says watershaper Paolo Benedetti, who shows what he means as he walks us through the installation of four different fiberoptic lighting systems on a single recent project.

Strands of Light

I love the versatility of fiberoptic lighting: The technology works equally well in conjunction with landscaping or architectural features, and because there's no electrical current to worry about at the light fixtures themselves, they're a natural around water. Better yet, you can use fiberoptics to create traditional point-light sources, or you can set them up as mellow bands of light over long stretches. I don't use fiberoptics on every job, but when the situation is right and the customer is willing, I'm eager to dig in and design a system that will wow them for years to come. As is true with any lighting system, the main reason to use fiberoptics is

You won’t find too many clients who can afford to install full-scale theme parks in their residential backyards, but that’s exactly what builder Steven Knight ran into on this project. Indeed, this owner had the imagination (and the budget) to bring a host of childhood fantasies to life over his sprawling estate in Central Florida, and now the watershapes at Foxtrotter Ranch are a true monument to kids young and old.

Fun in the Sun

I like a good challenge in my work, and I like to have fun making it happen. This project embodied the best of both experiences. The project displayed on these pages was built for a wealthy client who lives on a working horse ranch in the rolling green countryside near Ocala, Fla. Our company, Certified Construction, was up to the task. We build hundreds of highly customized watershapes each year for a variety of theme parks, resorts and high-end residences. Most have highly developed "themes," so we're accustomed to providing our clients with heavy doses of imagination and creativity. The basic marching orders on this job were straightforward: The owner wanted a theme park on his property for his kids - and he didn't really care about

Watershapers who work with high-end clients know that almost every project is unique – different circumstances, varied objectives and diverse hurdles. In taking on projects at this level, Tom Moneta and his staff of designer/project managers at Leisure Living Pools have found that combining a rich design vocabulary with a mastery of technical detail enables them to satisfy their clients’ desires while maximizing the potential of their backyards.

Site-Specific Solutions

At our firm, we treat every project and every customer as if they're one of a kind - which in truth they are. And we've been lucky in developing a high-end clientele that, on the whole, is looking for something special: They enable us to treat each project as an individual work of art; at the same time, they challenge us to stretch our own abilities and increase the variety of design solutions we bring to the drafting table. In many cases, this requires something of balancing act between what clients think they're after and the practicalities of the site itself, the architecture of adjoining structures and the views of surrounding areas. For that reason, each of our

Maintaining Investments

When I meet with clients for the first time, we talk a lot about what style, design, color and other elements appeal to them. We also talk about whether they want a low-maintenance garden, or whether they want to put a lot of work into their own high-maintenance yard. Consistently, however, I find that people do not even remotely understand what I mean by "maintenance." I hear things like, "I don't need a sprinkler clock," or, more truthfully, "I don't want to spend the money on a sprinkler clock" - and I immediately

Setting Up a Ledge

For me, the simplicity and elegance of the International Style was just about the best thing going in 20th-century design. The followers of Walter Gropius in the Bauhaus movement held this simplicity - expressed as a cleanness of line, a uniformity of materials and the establishment of clear relationships among architectural planes - in absolutely the highest regard. I always try to integrate these design principles into my own work - and one of the ways I do so is through the ledger detail we'll examine this time around. It's an expensive

Quality Don’t Come Easy

During the past few years, I've come to the stark realization that there are too few quality craftspeople in most geographical areas of our country. And it's not just the watershaping trades: The same holds true for most

In Praise of Vision Casters

The key to progress in most industries is the presence of people who are able to see through to a better tomorrow. At WaterShapes, we've sought to create a forum for

The relationship between glass and water can be a powerful one, says John Gilbert Luebtow, a modernist sculptor who uses water to spectacular effect in some of his work. Here, he explores the nature of that relationship while describing three major projects in which the ‘visual dance’ between water and glass is expressed in multi-dimensional shapes and sweeping, organic lines.

Liquid Glass

As a designer and artist, I believe that water and glass walk hand in hand: Both are transparent and translucent. They distort and reflect surrounding colors and forms. And depending upon whom you ask, water and glass are both liquids. The visual and physical resonance between these two fascinating materials is important to me: I know that their interplay adds an entirely different dimension to my work that enhances the effects I can achieve using glass, metal and ceramics, so I'm always eager to explore artistic solutions when my customers want the project to include water. In this article, I'll examine three of my projects that use water to accentuate and reflect the sculpture while providing the soothing sounds that create an overall feeling of peacefulness in the surrounding space. But first, a bit more about what I do - and how I do it. AHEAD OF THE GLASS As with many forms of sculpture, working with glass requires technical know-how and, like many modern artists, I have acquired a background in construction and fabrication techniques. Back in school my