Professional Watershaping
'Exceptional projects for outstanding clients don't fall off trees: You need to reach these people somehow,' declared Brian Van Bower in his Aqua Culture column for March 2004, 'and make your presence known. 'There are numbers of ways of achieving this contact, and I'd argue that
'Last month,' wrote Brian Van Bower to open his Aqua Culture column in the February 2004 issue of WaterShapes, 'I jumped into the New Year with a discussion of how the trends we face these days are influencing our recent experiences in business, society and life in general. 'All that was intended to set up this column's discussion of where we, as the watershaping industry, might be going in the months and years to come. . . . Rather than get into the aimless game of offering predictions, I'll delve instead into
In recent years, I've witnessed or participated in enjoyable conversations about the fact that pools, spas, fountains and other waterfeatures are now more complex than they've ever been. What I've heard and seen less often, however, is equivalent bantering about the fact that engineering plans for such projects must keep pace if these elaborate watershapes are to perform - as they should - well into the future. In this context of progress and success, it should trouble watershapers that large numbers of builders persist in relying on generic structural plans when it's time to break ground on their projects - even on those that
'Back when WaterShapes was in its infancy, the idea that swimming pools and spas had much in common with other forms of contained water (including ponds, fountains and streams) was a true novelty: All of those worlds seemed light years apart.' That's how Brian Van Bower opened his Aqua Culture column in November 2008 before adding: '[T]hings have changed and there's now widespread recognition that these seemingly
'Back when WaterShapes was in its infancy, the idea that swimming pools and spas had much in common with other forms of contained water (including ponds, fountains and streams) was a true novelty: All of those worlds seemed light years apart.' That's how Brian Van Bower opened his Aqua Culture column in November 2008 before adding: '[T]hings have changed and there's now widespread recognition that these seemingly
‘Several years back, I was in a seminar at the International Pool & Spa Expo when the instructor asked everyone who had an e-mail address to raise a hand. ‘Way back then – it was in the late 1980s or perhaps even the early ’90s – using the Internet for communication was a brand-new concept to most people and there were only a few . . . in the room who lifted an arm. I wasn’t one of them,’ observed Brian Van Bower in opening his September 2008 Aqua Culture column, ‘and at that point I had no idea that e-mail and Web sites would ever
‘One of the real tricks in any art form can be the challenge of exercising restraint,’ wrote Brian Van Bower to open his Aqua Culture column in September 2003. ‘Bigger isn’t always better, and both scale and size do matter. In other words, just because you can create something grand, it doesn’t always mean that you should.’ ‘This principle of proportionality has a sharp, specific meaning in the world of the custom watershaper,’ he continued, ‘especially when
‘Perception is reality,’ observed Brian Van Bower at the head of his Aqua Culture column for August 2003. ‘Regardless of whether that’s right or wrong, you are judged by appearances.’ ‘If your own appearances mean ugly-looking vehicles, sloppy-looking employees, shabby offices and job sites that look like disaster areas, you will inevitably be judged with that image by the clients who have hired you and by anyone else exposed to
‘Although my business now focuses on design and consulting,’ declared Brian Van Bower near the top of his Aqua Culture column of June 2003, ‘I spent enough years as a contractor to be able to evaluate what goes on between contractor and clients.’ ‘In fact,’ he added, ‘in my role as designer, clients often turn to me with comments about their contractors – and they’re not shy about complaining or in telling me about what makes them happy. And it works the other way, too, because contractors, knowing that I have experience as a contractor myself, will often turn to me as someone who can
No matter the method by which it is applied, concrete is a fascinating material. The history books tell us that it's been in use for thousands of years - as far back as 6500 BC, when it was used by Bedouins to make cisterns in which they collected and kept water underground in desert climates. The ancient Greeks used concrete, too, as did the Assyrians and especially
