ARTICLES Archives - Page 81 of 314

Nothing But Net

In summers long past, I'd come home from work, get into my swimming trunks, grab the newspaper and a cooling beverage and head for the pool. On some days, I was left on my own for an hour's worth of drifting on my big float, not a care in the world. Before putting the cover back on the pool, I'd swim a couple dozen short laps and tend to any

Slippery Slopes

Back in June 2002, Stephanie Rose began her Natural Companions column by writing, ‘Everyone knows that hanging a pool, pond, or spa off a slope can make quite a dramatic statement, which is probably why so many great watershapers love working on hillsides. ‘But the project doesn’t begin and end with the vessel,’ she cautioned. ‘In fact, placing a watershape on an

Working with a property owner who insists on an unconventional approach to a project can be a challenge. But it definitely helps, reports William Drakeley, when that client is also open-minded, imaginative and absolutely set on achieving brilliant, gem-like results.

A Jewel in the Woods

It happens only rarely, but every once in a while you run into a client who wants to do things out of sequence. Most often, we're asked to work on projects where there's an existing home that needs a watershape. Just as commonly, we're brought in when a home is being built at the same time as a new pool and its associated environment. In the case described in this article, however, our client owned a 20-acre site with little more than

A Path Not Taken

As I read Robert Nonemaker's article on the recommissioning of the Main Fountain Garden at Longwood Gardens while uploading it to the WaterShapes web site, one comment he made stuck in my mind: Seeing that fountain as a ten-year-old, he wrote, was one of his inspirations for becoming a watershaper. I didn't have that sort of uplifting aquatic experience as

His clients were craving low-maintenance poolscapes, so Tanr Ross bucked convention and started using synthetic grass with some of his projects. It's a solution he would have shot down a few years back -- but now, he says, it's part of almost every design discussion.

Green Evolution

If friends had told me that, eight years after leaving the Las Vegas desert, I'd be incorporating synthetic turf in a high percentage of my outdoor spaces in Texas, I would've said "No way!" What a concept! I now live and work where there's no water shortage, so why on earth would my clients or I have any interest in finding substitutes for big expanses of lawn? Well, what I'm seeing now is that the low-maintenance, long-lasting faux-grass solution is

Visual Acceptance

‘In one way or another,’ declared David Tisherman in his Details column of June 2002, ‘visual acceptance is what makes our world go around. ‘Think about the clothes we wear, the cars we admire, the foods we eat – not to mention interior design, home and office furnishings, landscapes and watershapes. So much of our response to these and other features of our environment,’ he added, ‘is based on

A Pond in Distress

Whenever we approach a pond design/installation project, we are mindful of the fact that a big part of our mission is to make the result as trouble-free as possible for our clients. It is never our intention to mess with their good moods, nor is it our practice, if things need adjusting later on, to avoid digging in as deep as may be necessary and finding a once-and-for-all solution to whatever the problem might be. The project on display in this set of four brief videos is living proof that

It's a bit misleading to say that Longwood Gardens' Main Fountain Garden is 'back,' observes Robert Nonemaker, declaring that the $90 million revitalization has produced something that recalls the original -- but exceeds it on so many levels that it's almost beyond comparison.

Just Awesome

To say that I've avidly followed the just-completed process of restoring and renovating the Main Fountain Garden at Longwood Gardens is putting it mildly: This water display has been part of my life since I was ten years old, and I'm proud to say that it's responsible both for my profound interest in water in motion and in some ways for my being a professional watershaper today. So it makes sense that I was there at Longwood Gardens (Kennett Square, Pa.) on May 27, 2017, when the fountain

Rustic Charms

Years ago, my wife and I made a pact that we'd do our best to visit Yosemite National Park at least every other year. With a couple exceptions - including a four-year gap since our last visit in 2013 - we've met that commitment. We took our three girls on the first several trips; we've gone by ourselves once or twice since our nest emptied, but we generally try to persuade

Liability is a huge issue with commercial aquatic facilities and waterparks, notes Johnathan Roberts, a fact that has led many operators, managers, designers and builders to focus on safety in ways that go well beyond lifeguard stands, first-aid kits and omnipresent signage.

Safety Always

Swimming continues to grow as a preferred method of exercise and physical therapy for people of all ages, with commercial aquatic facilities seeing healthy increases in patronage year after year. And whether it's water aerobics, resistance training, water walking or aquatic yoga, there's now much more to this popularity than traditional swim lessons for newcomers and laps or competitions for those with developed swimming skills. With this popularity comes