barriers
Móz Designs (Oakland, CA) manufactures the Laser Cut collection to enable designers to divide exterior…
'All of us at one time or another run up against trees that are very much in the way - and our clients simply won't let us remove them. To be sure, working around such prized specimens can be a real pain,' wrote Bruce Zaretsky in his January 2009 On the Level column, 'which is why so many in the construction trades have passive-aggressive attitudes about them and just wish
BŌK Modern (San Francisco, CA) manufactures laser-cut metal panels in standard or custom patterns for…
I love it when a project teaches me a lesson about my design process. In this case, it was just a smallish insight - but it had a profound effect on the outcome just the same. I'd seen this property for the first time while the home was under construction. It was a large building, about three-quarters complete, that occupied most of a fairly large parcel. The clients were happy to show me around, let me figure things out and come
Every year at about this time, I survey my backyard and make certain everything is ready for summer - patio furniture, grill, deck, shade sails, misting system and, probably most important given our usual summer lifestyle, the pool and spa. This year, however, my examination of the watershapes in particular
Almost every landscape I've ever worked on has had some type of fence. I use them because they establish boundaries, but I also see them as having much more than a simple utilitarian function. To me, they set a stage for everything they enclose and, depending upon where you happen to be standing, encompass you within a space or invite you to appreciate the view from a distance. In this discussion, I want to focus on the use of fences you can easily see over - a fence that defines a boundary while allowing viewers on one side to see what it encircles and on the other to enjoy the space's visual imagery. By low, I mean 42 inches tall or lower - low enough not to require
In an ideal world, tree roots would never be disturbed and decks, hardscape, structures and plantings would all avoid impinging on a mature tree's space. Too few job sites, however, work that way: In our world of shrinking spaces, homeowners want as much useable space as possible, and this often entails building over and around tree roots. In the process, contractors all too often cut through roots to accommodate footings and other structural elements and generally ignore trees and their needs for the duration of the construction project. As is also often the case, arborists are brought in to remedy problems only after irreparable damage to a tree becomes evident. This is true despite the fact that trees generally serve as the anchors of our landscape designs and that most of us know that we should them with significant deference when designing landscapes and beginning construction. Typically, however, protecting a tree and its roots is a low priority for most general contractors and architects - and even some
We're all aware of local codes and other requirements regarding the fences we put surrounding watershapes: Many of the solutions we are forced to adopt can be quite unsightly and often detract significantly from the visual beauty we're trying to create overall with our watershapes and planting plans. Unfortunately, many designers and contractors seem to see all fences as being grossly equivalent, meaning that they're taking the rules that apply around watershapes and translating them into a non-watershape settings, probably because it's the path of least resistance at a time when
I purchased a home in the late 1980s that backs up to a wooded area inhabited by deer, coyotes, rabbits, rattlesnakes, squirrels and various and sundry other rodents. I didn't believe that any of them would come into my yard, so I boldly left the gate at the top of my slope open to test my theory. I awoke the next morning to the sight of a family of three deer feasting on my azaleas and other delectables. Although they did a fabulous job of pruning the azaleas into perfect rounded mounds, I recognized then and there that they wouldn't coexist with a nicely landscaped garden. I figured that my fence would never be enough to keep the wildlife at bay forever, so I delved into
