ARTICLES Archives - Page 47 of 312

Experiencing the Void

When WaterShapes went all-digital back in July 2011, there was one big story looming in the print-magazine horizon: That summer, as finishing touches were being added to the National September 11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan, we were all set to offer a behind-the-scenes look at the fountain portion of the project in a September issue that never materialized. This missed opportunity with the memorial has been somewhere in

Humble Thanks

After a long, satisfying run, this will be the last blog I'll write for WaterShapes: With the next edition of this newsletter on April 8, that's a privilege I'll transfer to Eric Herman with gratitude and best wishes. While I have this chance, I have some additional thanks to

Designing ponds for special purposes is nothing new to Anthony Archer Wills, who recently worked on this one, meant for horses. The result, set in the shadow of the Bavarian Alps, is beyond beautiful -- even though the four-legged part of the story involved a late twist.

An Equine Retreat

It is rare that any of us are asked to build a swimming pond for horses. But why not? They are admittedly much bigger than Koi and certainly larger than humans, yet I am assured they are considerably cleaner than dogs and genuinely do benefit from the leg-relieving buoyancy that comes with immersion in water. The first pond I built for equestrian swimmers came along in the late 1970s - just after I'd completed several large gravel-filtration ponds for trout: It seemed at the time that the same principles that worked so well for

Staying Current

'With a busy schedule,' wrote Stephanie Rose to open her March 2005 Natural Companions column, 'it's too easy to use the same tools repeatedly in project designs. 'Yes, you can mitigate the repetition to a certain extent by using those tools differently each time, but the fact remains that many of us tend to design over and over again with the same plants, hardscape materials and structural approaches because it's

This all-glass-tile project was about to start on the wrong foot, notes Jimmy Reed. But he became involved at a point when changing directions was still possible -- and the results are not only beautiful but gave his design-oriented clients just what they'd been after from the get-go.

Perfecting the Look

This was a project that might easily have run off the rails. First, the glass tile selected by the interior designer wasn't appropriate for pool applications. It might have been lovely as a backsplash in an interior kitchen or bathroom, but it came with no solid information about its source or pedigree that would have made it a wise choice for use in a critical outdoor application. Second, the tile was rectangular and, at one-and-a-quarter by five inches, was too big for its intended use as an all-tile finish for a complex pool and spa - particularly given

Digging for Insight

'For the best part of 20 years now,' wrote Brian Van Bower in starting his Aqua Culture column from March 2010, ' trend watchers have tracked Baby Boomers and have kept telling us that, as we aged, we'd definitely become homebodies - so much so that the words "nesting," "cocooning" and "staycation" have all taken significant

Set atop a mountain on a beautiful bump in the Atlantic Ocean, this project jumped countless supply hurdles and survived two hurricanes while under construction -- thereby proving to Shane LeBlanc that anything is possible if you step back and learn to live with 'island time.'

No Worries

In recent years, I've become increasingly focused on landing projects on St. Thomas, St. John and a bunch of other paradisal surface eruptions off the east coast of North America: I like the people, enjoy the climate and truly love the laid-back island culture I find even among the high-end clients who call on me to design their poolscapes. Quite often, the settings are the far side of spectacular, too, with views of multi-hued coastal waters of the Atlantic Ocean stretching out for miles, often interrupted by

No matter the cause, nobody is particularly happy when a once-concealed pond liner pops into view. And it's sad, writes Dave Garton, because these exposures can usually be avoided if the installer works wisely with the liner and takes the time to select and place rocks with care.

Your Liner Is Showing

I'm not crabby by nature - just the opposite, in fact - and I don't want anyone to think that I go out of my way to find and critique flawed ponds. Thing is, I'm a reputable pond designer and installer and have made a point through the years of meeting with garden clubs and other groups that are interested in what pond-making is all about. After these events, it hasn't been uncommon for owners of ponds installed by others to call me over for a visit and ask me what I think needs to be done to address what they see as worrisome

The Perfect Trend

I've heard it often enough in the past couple years that I'm becoming a believer: It looks as though more and more watershapers are finding seats at the design table and have become respected participants in water-related aspects of significant projects led by

There was definitely something familiar about this project: All of the principals involved knew each other well, notes Ken Alperstein, and now they'd been asked to rework almost every detail of two golf courses on which they've all labored repeatedly for nearly a quarter century.

Split Personalities

It's like an old, familiar tune: When you've been working on major projects with the same group of people for more than a quarter century - always with common principles, shared experience and similar goals in mind - it's easy to pick up the instruments and start playing again without a moment's hesitation. That's exactly how it felt for us at Pinnacle Design Co. (La Quinta, Calif.) when we were called on to revamp key elements at The Vintage Club, a private, 36-hole golf facility in Indian Wells, Calif. We did our first work there in 1994 and have been involved in numerous landscape and waterfeature enhancements since then with renowned course designer