ARTICLES Archives - Page 56 of 312

The stakes for a watershape designer are pretty high when the client is a noted architect, observes Shane LeBlanc -- particularly when you're working 3,000 miles from your home base and need to find professionals capable of bringing your bold, ambitious ideas to life.

Refined Parameters

As an independent designer of custom watershapes, I've learned a lot about self-reliance and the degree of passion it takes to persuade clients to come along with me in exploring opportunities to turn backyard swimming pools into exceptional works of art. I've also learned how important it is to play well with others. Earlier in my career, when I

Collaborative Artists

The three features that top this edition of WaterShapes have been a long time coming - a special package of articles all about the same project told from three different professional perspectives. Through the years, we at WaterShapes have taken this

White House Adjacent

I was guided to this place on one of my numerous visits to Washington, D.C., in the early 1990s. I" d met a friend for lunch in the adams morgan neighborhood, and afterwards she recommended walk over to nearby meridian hill park see some cool architecture nice water feature. I was guided to this place on one of my numerous visits to Washington, D.C., in the early 1990s. I" d met a friend for lunch in the adams morgan neighborhood, and afterwards she recommended walk over to nearby meridian hill park see some cool architecture nice waterfeature. She was partly correct: The architecture was indeed cool, but the waterfeature was brilliant - unlike anything I had ever seen in the United States - and the story behind the property was plentiful icing on the cake. I was guided to this place on one of my numerous visits to Washington, D.C., in the early 1990s. I" d met a friend for lunch in the adams morgan neighborhood, and afterwards she recommended walk over to nearby meridian hill park see some cool architecture nice waterfeature. The park is located on a hill due north of the White House, and in 1804 Thomas Jefferson had a marker placed there along what became known as the White House Meridian as a geographical landmark for the then-developing city. After the War of 1812, the longstanding estate was acquired by Commodore David Porter, a war hero who eventually built a splendid mansion that offered views down to the White House and the Potomac River. I was guided to this place on one of my numerous visits to Washington, D.C., in the early 1990s. I" d met a friend for lunch in the adams morgan neighborhood, and afterwards she recommended walk over to nearby meridian hill park see some cool architecture nice waterfeature An author and activist, she was an ardent supporter of women's suffrage, temperance and vegetarianism - altogether a bold character. One of her plans, proposed in 1898, included moving the president's residence from the White House up to Meridian Hill. Topping herself, she also wanted the then-in-planning Lincoln Memorial to be built on her hill as well. I was guided to this place on one of my numerous visits to Washington, D.C., in the early 1990s. I" d met a friend for lunch in the adams morgan neighborhood, and afterwards she recommended walk over to nearby meridian hill park see some cool architecture nice waterfeature. Thwarted in both objectives, the "Empress of 16th Street" built and leased out a number of lots as embassies and mansions and then turned her focus to convincing the government to buy her remaining large property and turn it into a park. This project took hold: The land was purchased by the government in 1910, by which time Mary was 69 years old. She lived to be 90. I was guided to this place on one of my numerous visits to Washington, D.C., in the early 1990s. I" d met a friend for lunch in the adams morgan neighborhood, and afterwards she recommended walk over to nearby meridian hill park see some cool architecture nice waterfeature. In 1914, the government hired landscape architect George Burnap to create classic, European-style gardens for the new park. These plans were then modified by a second landscape architect, Horace Peaslee. What emerged was a stepped garden that took more than 20 years to complete. One key highlight: The park contains the world's first experiment - successful, I might add - with an exposed-aggregate finish. I was guided to this place on one of my numerous visits to Washington, D.C., in the early 1990s. I" d met a friend for lunch in the adams morgan neighborhood, and afterwards she recommended walk over to nearby meridian hill park see some cool architecture nice waterfeature But I'm letting the park's overall story lead me astray: Its main event is a 13-basin water stair in the Italian Renaissance style. Flanked by twin concrete stairways finished entirely with exposed aggregate, the cascade starts with fountain jets at the foot of a balustrade-topped, Italian-style wall and flows down to a final basin where the descending torrent is supplemented by spouting gargoyles. The water then passes over a final weir and into a large basin and ponds highlighted by fountain bowls and more gargoyles and fountain jets. I was guided to this place on one of my numerous visits to Washington, D.C., in the early 1990s. I" d met a friend for lunch in the adams morgan neighborhood, and afterwards she recommended walk over to nearby meridian hill park see some cool architecture nice waterfeature The whole composition was an unexpected delight - well worth straying from the Capitol Mall and the Smithsonian museums for a lingering visit. It's also within easy reach of the National Zoo - another worthy Washington attraction that too easily escapes attention. I was guided to this place on one of my numerous visits to Washington, D.C., in the early 1990s. I" d met a friend for lunch in the adams morgan neighborhood, and afterwards she recommended walk over to nearby meridian hill park see some cool architecture nice waterfeature My understanding is that Meridian Hill Park's cascade has been off for more than a year, undergoing a number of small repairs as well as the replacement of aging cast-iron pipes with plumbing made of a more suitable material. It's supposed to be up and running again by this summer, so give it a look: It's in an interesting part of the city that too few tourists ever see. I was guided to this place on one of my numerous visits to Washington, D.C., in the early 1990s. I" d met a friend for lunch in the adams morgan neighborhood, and afterwards she recommended walk over to nearby meridian hill park see some cool architecture nice waterfeature.To see a video of the water stair - not great quality but it gets the idea across admirably - click here.

Building a project to another designer's plan can be awkward when you notice flaws you might have helped address. In this case, notes Tanr Ross, the results were truly spectacular -- but assessing the 'deficiencies' taught him valuable lessons he'll always carry with him.

Adopted Vision

As a pool designer, my preference is to sit down with prospective clients, listen to what they have to say about a pending project and, working with their ideas, the site and the budget, come up with a program that makes all of us happy and proud. For the most part, that's the way things go for me these days. But I also know that, on certain occasions, it's necessary to go with the flow. In the project covered here, for example, a super-affluent property owner had called on a respected architect to

Gravel’s Virtues

Puzzled by its bad reputation among some of his clients, Mike Gannon began doing research on gravel. He'd always believed in its value, he says, but found a rich history that now aids in him on occasions when he needs to talk his clients through their moments of doubt.

The Client Experience

As I write this on May 10, we're two weeks into a major renovation of our home of 30 years. Various demolition, foundation, framing, flooring, cabinet and roofing contractors will be redoing the kitchen from top to bottom while adding about 65 square feet to its space by

Gearing Up

'As winter draws to a close here in the northeast,' wrote Bruce Zaretsky to start his May 2009 On the Level column, 'we begin preparing in earnest to deal with the inevitable springtime rush. There are contracts to sign, materials to order, plants to grow, schedules to set and hires (if any) to be made. And we do all of this knowing that, once the weather breaks, we want to burst out of the gate like an odds-on favorite at the Kentucky Derby. 'To make this happen,' he continued, 'we

Preserving History

'Here in America, our idea of history goes back only so far,' wrote Stephanie Rose to open her May 2004 Natural Companions column. 'We don't have the "ancient" structures that still set the tone and architectural vocabulary the way they do in Europe, Asia and other places. 'For those who prefer modern or contemporary styles, this lack of history may

In the second part of his series on the design process, Kurt Kraisinger takes us through the initial stages -- client contact, site visits, design meetings and more -- as the pieces of the puzzle scattered across Part 1 begin to coalesce into a coherent, workable design scheme.

The Show Begins

Each custom design project is, of course, different from any other. The client may be a known quantity, but the site and the budget won't be and, as professionals, we always end up responding to unique sets of variables with eyes wide open. In the first part of this series, we looked at the disembodied details and components that made up one of these unique design packages. Starting with this part and continuing into the next, we'll examine at what was involved in assembling that particular set of features and, in this article, look specifically at how my collaboration with the client proceeded from initial contact to acceptance of a preliminary design. Obviously, what I'll describe here is

The opportunity to work on a project where teaching is the objective is hard to resist, notes Ed Beaulieu. But making it happen in ways that entertain while they educate is quite a feat when the underlying messages are as complex and significant as they are at Reed Street Yards.

Educational Flows

Among the most rewarding of all the projects I tackle are those in which a pond, stream or waterfall is meant to be a teaching tool. The lessons don't have to be difficult to grasp or challenging to deliver: They simply add a layer of meaning, depth and value to the work that sharpens my interest and lifts my spirits. The stream system at Reed Street Yards in Milwaukee, Wisc., was a source of just this form of personal satisfaction: The city has been positioning itself as a global leader in all things related to freshwater systems, and my participation here had to do with an incubator/think tank complex aimed at expanding on the efforts of the