ARTICLES Archives - Page 302 of 325

In his designs, custom watershaper Steve Oliver finds steady inspiration in the simple grandeur of water as it flows from one level to another. In the project seen here, for example, he uses an array of vanishing edges and gentle cascades to enhance and extend views from a home on the rim of the Arizona desert, weaving multiple water effects into a composition full of visual delights for his clients.

Liquid Layering

One of the things I like most about working with water is that it makes statements that don't require much verbal explanation. In fact, I like to think that the projects I build speak volumes about my clients' desire for something creative and interesting. They also speak to the point that most of my clients grant me the freedom to give my very best effort, both aesthetically and technically, without many constraints. Not all the work I do is so modern in style or approach as the project pictured in these pages, but this one illustrates a principle that's become a

A Gallery of Icons

If you're looking for a broad overview of the world's most significant gardens, their styles and the designers who created them, Icons of Garden Design may well be just the book for you. The 174-page text, edited by Caroline Holmes and published by Prespel Publishing in 2001, consists of dozens of well-illustrated articles from a variety of writers who cover an amazingly broad range of famous designs and designers. The book's coverage reaches back to 300 B.C. and comes to a close in the here and now. Along the way, you visit the grounds of Versailles in France, Chatsworth in England, the Peterhof in Russia and an array of gardens less well known to most of us educated in the Western world, including fantastic spaces in

Good Groundings

Last time, I mentioned initial meetings and discussions having to do with a retrofit project in Pacific Palisades, Calif. I call it a "retrofit" because we're using a portion of an existing pool shell as part of the new one, but in truth this is really a ground-up reworking of the entire environment. This project displays the influence that architects Ricardo Legoretta and Luis Barragan have had on my thinking about shapes, colors and spatial relationships. As soon as I saw this place, in fact, the work of both came to mind because of the strong colors and materials and the expressive

Ornamental Choices

Last month, we discussed ornamental grasses and their place as the most natural of all companions for watershapes. Now it's time to look at a few of your grass options, including something for just about every need and taste. Ornamental grasses come in such a wide range of sizes, climate preferences and colors that there really is at least one choice that will work in any client's yard. With so many choices, I'll have to narrow the list down to my personal favorites here. I'll also be suggesting some plants that aren't traditionally considered to be ornamental grasses; these are some "grass-like" plants I use as required to meet a particular design's needs. As always, I recommend

Just the Opposite

Is it honest to say that too few of the swimming pools you find in America's backyards are what one could call well built - and that even fewer of them are well designed? I think so, because so many of the pools I see run like junk and look like junk, and it's way too easy to find installations that lack any apparent relationship to their settings, their homes' architecture, the landscaping or any recognized

The Heart of the Art

There's a natural tendency to think of artists as dreamy, distracted types devoid of any aptitude for or interest in things technical. When you study just about any art form in depth, however, you soon realize that

Numerous approaches to the illumination of decorative watershapes have been around for decades, but there’s keener interest in specific techniques for the lighting of moving water as the ‘fountain phenomenon’ reaches past the commercial realm and makes its way into the residential market. In both settings, observes Crystal Fountains’ Paul L’Heureux, it’s always about maximizing the visual beauty of water. (Photo by John Max Llorca)

Guiding the Lights

It's a simple notion: When designing illumination for fountains and for watershapes in general, we as designers have the opportunity to choreograph the interaction of light, sound and motion to create visually compelling experiences. Just as painters mix colors to create desired shades, moods and movement within their compositions, watershapers can use the sounds created by moving water, the water's visual effects, various materials of construction, the ambient (natural) light, any surrounding architecture and the tools of modern illumination technology to take these masterpieces to

Located at the entrance to the new home for the National Football League’s Denver Broncos, this unique vertical watershape is the combination of ambitious visual design, massive bronze sculptures, complex cascades, rugged rockwork and delicate alpine landscaping – and all Jim Morris and his staff at Natural Pools & Waterfalls of Denver had to do was figure out how to make a grand concept work.

Mile-High Gallop

It's not every day you get the chance to work on a project that's going to be seen around the world by millions of people for decades to come. That was exactly the opportunity that came our way in October 1999, when we were asked by the Denver Broncos to construct an elaborate waterfeature at Invesco Field at Mile High, a brand-new stadium that opened at the beginning of the 2001 football season. The project architect - HNTB Sports of Kansas City, Mo. - had developed

It’s time for a return visit to Cima del Mundo, the 50-acre estate in the hills above Montecito, Calif., that we first visited a year ago. Last time, we took a look at the design and construction of the courtyard’s central fountain, now complete. This time, we join landscape architect/contractor/watershaper Mark Holden to catch up on progress with another key feature: a new pool and spa that look as though they might have been built with the home in 1925.

Cresting Perfection

A grand California estate deserves a grand pool, and Cima del Mundo is certainly no exception. The new pool is part of a project that involves the complete renovation of a classic estate in the hills of Montecito, a prosperous enclave just south of Santa Barbara, Calif. In keeping with the overall theme of the project, which was described in detail in "The Crest of the World" (WaterShapes, January/February 2001, page 32), the pool has been outfitted with thoroughly

Making People Places

One of the first books about landscape architecture I ever read was Gardens Are for People by Thomas Church, a designer justly famous for changing the way exterior spaces are treated today - especially in the residential environment. This book was first published in 1953, but a second edition (published in 1983 by Reinhold Publishing Corp.) is still widely available in bookstores and on the Internet. The 250-plus-page book traces Church's long career, which started in California in the 1930s and lasted through the late '70s and almost to his death in 1978. His great gift was taking the art of landscape architecture and applying it to the masses. Before him, landscape architecture was