Delivering the Promise
Eric Herman
Thomas Alva Edison once said, “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”
That may be his most famous utterance – and for good reason: A good idea is important in just about any creative endeavor, but without dogged pursuit of appropriate
execution, the best concept is little more than a mental exercise.
The basic truth of Edison’s observation applies across a vast spectrum of pursuits, and there’s no doubt that watershaping belongs on that list in a big way. Indeed, watershapers’ marriage of ingenious design to suitable construction – inspiration to perspiration – has always stood at the heart of this magazine’s coverage of what you do. Simply put, the best watershapers are versed in both ideas and execution, whether as design-savvy builders, designers who understand construction or designer/builders who handle everything.
Every once in a while, however, there seems to be a disconnect – an area in which the general understanding of construction processes isn’t adequate to service the ideas being used. There’s a case in point in this issue (click here), where you’ll find “Rough Edges” by engineer Ron Lacher: It’s a description of what happens when key construction principles aren’t applied and a specific (and popular) form watershapes have been tending to fail as a result.
For the past few years, Lacher has searched for reasons why he’s seeing such a large number of vanishing-edge dam walls fall prey to delaminations, cracks and wholesale leaking. After examining dozens of failed projects and closely observing installation practices, he has identified a list of construction issues that appear to form the core of the problem. I’ll leave it to Ron to lay things out for you; suffice it here to say that it’s a sobering discussion, given just how basic some these missteps seem to be.
His discussion reaches well beyond the immediate reputation issues the watrershaping trades and the pool industry in particular have faced through the years. What I find so disconcerting in this case is that vanishing-edge pools are a high-profile, upscale expression of the watershaper’s art, and it’s unfortunate to see such rudimentary errors afflicting the industry’s production of its best designs.
Vanishing-edge pools may be more common today that they were a decade ago, but it’s painfully clear from Lacher’s discussion that without competent execution, they are as subject to failure as any other vessel. In other words, if their builders don’t “sweat” the details here, trouble surely follows – and more painfully when it saps the performance of our most recognizable and marketable designs.
***
On a sunnier note, it is with great pleasure that I introduce a new column and columnist in this issue: Please click here to see the first installment of “On the Level” by watershape and landscape designer/builder Bruce Zaretsky.
Bruce’s work and guiding philosophy offer a prime example of what it means to work at a high level at all stages of the design and construction processes across a broad range of project types. In his first column, he sets the stage for what promises to be a dynamic, practical addition to our monthly lineup.
Enjoy!