ARTICLES Archives - Page 307 of 312

The Future is Now

In the year since we launched this "new magazine for a new era," many of you have called or written to tell us that you like what we're doing and that you share the magazine's fundamental vision: that the future of

As a design concept, Japanese gardens know no cultural or geographic borders: Elements of this style of garden design have been exported throughout the world to shape exterior spaces of all sorts in both public and private settings. Here, gardening and landscape design expert Elizabeth Navas Finley discusses the underlying principles of Japanese gardens, defining ways in which this simple approach to designing spaces can be put to use across a spectrum of applications.

Back to the Garden

The gardening impulse of the Japanese is truly ancient. In times before recorded history, sacred outdoor spaces around Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples were arranged according to this design vision. And through more than 1,000 years of recorded history, gardens have been created and refined by priests, warriors and emperors alike in spaces both public and private. The style isn't original in the strictest sense: In many ways, the gardens of Japan find their sources in Chinese gardening styles and landscape painting. But the Japanese developed and refined their borrowings to fit their own national taste for subtle naturalism and elegant rusticity. The result is an amazingly coherent and distinctive landscaping style that now can be experienced at hundreds of public gardens in Japan. The nice thing today is that you don't have to live in Tokyo to appreciate Japanese gardens - or to incorprate their principles into your designs. In fact, garden designers around the world now use the obvious elements of Japanese gardens - the stone lanterns, gravel and clipped azaleas - in naturalistic and asymmetrical settings of all shapes and sizes. In some cases, the total look of the garden is Japanese; in others, its principles are used to

A Good Grounding

Through the years, the #1 question asked of me at seminars and trade shows has been: "What's the difference between bonding and grounding?" I have wanted to do an answering article far some time, but I was concerned that its length would require it to be split into two pieces and that the every-other-month format of WaterShapes might make it difficult to maintain continuity of thought over a two-month span. I was pleased when our editor informed me that we would be going monthly for a while. I figured I'd strike now, while the fingers are nimble and the magazine issues more

Insights at the Kitchen Table

You're sitting at your clients' kitchen table, putting the finishing touches on their backyard pool/spa plan and getting ready to have them sign a contract. Then they say, "We really appreciate that you listened to what we wanted. That salesperson from the other company kept telling us what kind of pool he thought we should have. He just wouldn't listen. "Well, that's why we chose you to build our pool." And you think, how could he have been so blind? What was he thinking? Doesn't he see that his approach drives customers away? The lesson to be learned from this story is simple. It's taught in all the business schools, at countless seminars and innumerable conferences, and it boils down to one big

What About Roses?

Let's say your clients have spent all their loose change on your watershape and can't afford to hire a landscape designer or architect. They don't even want to meet that wonderful person you've been telling them about. So why not suggest a few plants that will really spiff up their new backyard Niagara Falls? If you're brave enough to try, I'll help you here and in a couple of future columns. Let's start by talking about

At some point, designing most any watershape means committing the concept to paper. A good bird’s-eye-view plot plan might be enough for imaginative clients who can translate a two-dimensional schematic into a vision of their yard’s potential, observes Clint West, but that’s asking a lot. Instead – and where the budget makes it sensible – why not present your client with a full-color, three-dimensional rendering and use the power of the image to everyone’s benefit?

Rendering a Visual Assist

Long before the Bobcats show up, most watershape designers will have used some sort of two-dimensional artwork to excavate their customers' imaginations. Perhaps it starts with old photographs in a portfolio, but it almost always ends up with new drawings that encourage precise, detailed communication between designer and client in a way that can never be fully achieved with verbal descriptions or written proposals. If done with appropriate detail and skill, a drawing gives designer and client the opportunity to explore the

Why Good Competition is Great

Not long ago, my friend and Genesis 3 co-founder David Tisherman was in Miami. We took the opportunity to drive around and look at some of my jobs. As we moved through the Coral Gables area, really enjoying that beautiful waterfront community, he said, "This is nice. I'd really love to work around here." Now, in case you don't know, Mr. Tisherman is one of the finest pool designers and builders anywhere. My first reaction to his remark was, "Jeez, what would

Artful Borrowings

It has been said by the experts that all art and craft is derivative, that any form of creative expression is actually a synthesis of both the designer's vision and the application of pre-existing influences and

Designing a New Paradigm

There was a time not long ago when the mere thought of pool builders and landscape designers getting together on equal footing and having meaningful conversations about backyard design would have met with skepticism: There is not, it seems, much love lost between the trades. But times are changing, and if the dialogue begun around a table last August is any indication, there's a tremendous amount to be gained by keeping the communications channels wide open.

The best backyards on the planet are a marriage of the setting to appropriate architecture, thoughtful landscaping, tailored hardscape and, of course, a refined watershape. That’s the ideal, and it is a level of artistic performance to which more and more pool designers and builders are striving these days – including those featured in this pictorial. Beyond skill and talent, what these professionals have in common is that all are graduates of the Genesis 3 Design School.

A Tasteful Genesis

Good pool design isn't something that happens by chance. It's the product of a mental discipline applied to the entire setting, from one end of the yard to the other. It's the result of an over-arching vision that incorporates the watershape as a desirable component in a whole tapestry of textures, traditions, shapes, surfaces, highlights, spaces, contours and lines that please the eye, gratify the soul and bring a smile to the face of the observer. Perceiving this integration is often intuitive, but you can tell when it's been done right. You also can tell when the mark has been missed and can spend minutes or hours (or days) unraveling and considering everything from severe challenges and missed opportunities to lapses in focus or simple errors in taste and judgment. If your head's in the right place, you'll probably learn more from the problem pool than you will from the gem. Putting pool-industry heads in that right place is part of the thoughtful, reflective approach to pool design offered in the Genesis 3 Design School, which has convened three times and has now touched the sensibilities of more than 75 designers and builders. While school is in session, participants are immersed in an ocean of information on design principles, technical issues, presentation techniques and, perhaps most forcefully of all, on attitude and mindset. The basic message: Every pool can be special, appropriate and expressive of the