Duffer’s Delight: Ken Alperstein’s Platinum Standard Project
Watershaping advanced by leaps and bounds from 1999 through 2004 – a journey of artistry and practicality that was an inspiration to witness. In this retrospective feature, WaterShapes Editor Eric Herman reviews 25 key projects published during that time frame, offering an ongoing resource to watershapers while defining a Platinum Standard for the designers, engineers, builders and artists who use water as their chosen medium.
Ken Alperstein
Pinnacle Design
Palm Desert, Calif.
The watershapes found on golf courses often stand among the largest and most detailed naturalistic streams and ponds found anywhere. This California project, designed and installed by Ken Alperstein’s firm and known as The Quarry, features extensive watershapes, vast planted areas, expanses of natural and artificial rockwork, thousands of yards of meandering streams, huge lakes and cascades that beautify the course while blending it visually with the striking geology of the surrounding desert.