THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS July 22, 2020 www.watershapes.com FEATURE ARTICLE Patient Perfection While true perfection is an elusive goal,Grant Smithbelieves in pursuing it by exceeding engineering and construction standards and paying attention to fine aesthetic details. And as he reports here, sometimes he ends up chasing it for clients who […]
Tag: client relationships
2020/7.1, July 8 — Lake Construction, Pond Completion, High-Rise Nuances and more
THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS July 8, 2020 www.watershapes.com FEATURE ARTICLE Demise of the Water Hazard Through the past 15 years, golf-course designs have embraced a distinctly minimalist approach. It’s a response, writesKen Alperstein, to the fact that the number of courses being built has shrunk dramatically — and that attitudes […]
2020/5.2, May 20 — Moody Installations, Fantastic Fountain, Plaster Color Fading and more
THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS May 20, 2020 www.watershapes.com POND INSIGHTS Pond-Construction Chaos Managing clients’ mood is as much a part of the pond-installation process as installing the liner. This is whyDave Gartonworks to build realistic expectations and keep thoughts trained on positive outcomes, seeing them as keys to problem-solvingandlong-term satisfaction.[more] […]
2020/4.2, April 22 — Using Sightlines, Ponds for Swimming, Backyard Dynamics and more
THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS April 22, 2020 www.watershapes.com FEATURE ARTICLE Guided by Sight Establishing primary and secondary sightlines within a space is one of the first design tasks on almost any project, observesMike Farley. Doing so sets the stage for numerous decisions that follow and allows you to maximize visual […]
2020/4.1, April 8 — Acrylic Ingenuity, Gourmet Water, Dancing with Light and more
THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS April 8, 2020 www.watershapes.com FEATURE ARTICLE Elegant Ingenuity Solving tough technical challenges often takes cooperation and collaboration in a team setting, says builderWilliam Drakeley. Here, he explains how this award-winning project required innovative solutions to overcome a set of uniquely tricky hurdles. [more] POND INSIGHTS Smiling […]
Digging for Insight
By Brian Van Bower
‘For the best part of 20 years now,’ wrote Brian Van Bower in starting his Aqua Culture column from March 2010, ‘ trend watchers have tracked Baby Boomers and have kept telling us that, as we aged, we’d definitely become homebodies – so much so that the words “nesting,” “cocooning” and “staycation” have all taken significant
No Worries
By Shane LeBlanc
In recent years, I’ve become increasingly focused on landing projects on St. Thomas, St. John and a bunch of other paradisal surface eruptions off the east coast of North America: I like the people, enjoy the climate and truly love the laid-back island culture I find even among the high-end clients who call on me to design their poolscapes.
Quite often, the settings are the far side of spectacular, too, with views of multi-hued coastal waters of the Atlantic Ocean stretching out for miles, often interrupted by
2020/3.1, March 4 — Island Adventures, Liner Laments, Precision Tiling and more
THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS March 4, 2020 www.watershapes.com FEATURE ARTICLE No Worries Set atop a mountain on a beautiful bump in the Atlantic Ocean, this projectjumped countless supply hurdles andsurvived two hurricanes while under construction — thereby proving toShane LeBlancthatanythingis possible if you step back and learn to live with […]
2020/1.2, January 22 — Small Considerations, Corporate Teamwork, Helical Sweep and more
THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS January 22, 2020 www.watershapes.com FEATURE ARTICLE Big Ideas, Small Space The yard was quite long and narrow, and so was the tightly confined access path. ButScott Cohenhas enough experience in dealing with compact backyards that he’s always ready, as he demonstrates here, to deliver a design […]
Deficits of Trust
By Brian Van Bower
‘The Harvard Business Review recently published results of an interesting survey: Overall, they said, some 75 percent of those contacted reported diminishing trust in U.S. business managers and their companies; moreover,’ added Brian Van Bower in starting his Aqua Culture column in WaterShapes‘ January 2010 issue, ‘their faith in educational institutions, product suppliers and government is on the decline as well.’
‘It all seems gloomy and pessimistic, but I couldn’t be