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Picture this: A seaside fountain in which jets of water are arrayed and programed to emulate a Pacific Ocean swell. It's designed as a mirror to existing conditions, using real-time ocean-observation data to determine the exact timing and height of the fountain's jet sequence. Or this: An installation scheduled by its managers to function as an interactive-play fountain at certain times of the day when children are likeliest to be present, or as a musical/performing fountain in the evenings or at other times when the property owner's desire is to entertain and help people relax. Or this: A fountain that
Waterway Plastics (Oxnard, CA) has released its 2018 Pool & Spa Product Buyer’s Guide, a…
In recent years, most watershapers have had to speak up in defense of their projects when prospective clients start asking questions about water use and how a pool or pond or fountain can possibly represent a sustainable use of a precious natural resource. These questions even come from those who are fully committed to making water a part of a business or civic setting or a feature in a home environment: They're looking for ways of
As watershapers, we're comfortable using our chosen medium as a place-maker, an entertainer and a resource for recreation. In doing so, we take advantage of the fact that water is a unique, extremely versatile substance that can be manipulated in innumerable ways. We also accommodate the thought that, supreme among design media, water has a pronounced and often profound effect on people who
Hayward Pool Products (Elizabeth, NJ) has announced that its OmniLogic automation system now works with…
Hayward Commercial Pool (Elizabeth, NJ) has released the 2013 edition of its commercial products…
Last time, I mentioned the fact that many of my design clients these days are environmentally aware and want to make certain I can help them devise landscapes and hardscape treatments that make sense in eco-friendly ways. To at least the same extent, clients who contact us at The Green Scene (Northridge, Calif.) want us to work with their pool, spa, fountain and pond designs in the same way: They want us to minimize the
Call it human nature, free-market economics, the profit motive or whatever – the fact of the matter is that too many landscape lighting installers rely on low-cost products made with low-grade materials. Obviously, they do it to cut down costs either to squeeze more profit out of each job or to bring the price down to the level required to get clients to sign on the dotted line. So rather than reduce the number of fixtures used on a project or even turn down a project altogether, they’re clearly willing to win a job by using equipment that has no chance of lasting more than a
For more than 10 years now, outdoor rooms have been growing steadily in both popularity and complexity. That’s great, because it enables designers – architects, landscape architects, landscape designers and pool builders alike – to bring interiors outside and provide living spaces where activities previously associated strictly with indoor spaces can move comfortably into the great outdoors. It’s a fantastic way to expand living areas and create useful spaces while also adding entirely new types of experiences to the lives of homeowners. Among this trend’s many implications is that it has challenged landscape lighting designers to think in all-new ways about how we light exterior spaces. For starters, we need to be aware that most homeowners will enjoy these spaces exclusively after dark – and also be conscious of the fact that these environments require much more complicated lighting schemes than classic suburban patios ever did. The differences are so profound that I believe lighting designers need to talk to clients in new ways that
As I see it, successful landscape lighting is a two-part process: First, the designer applies aesthetic principles that create the art, then he or she supports that artistic vision with scientific and technological savvy. One without the other doesn’t work: You can’t effectively practice the art until you’ve mastered the science. In my 17 years as a lighting designer, I’ve encountered lots of professionals who have the artistic part of the equation down pat but fall well short when it comes to working with electricity. The plain fact is, you can use the best fixtures in the world and understand the aesthetic issues like the back of your hand, but if you can’t consistently deliver power to those fixtures at correct, reliable voltages, the overall system will not perform properly and has the potential to become a maintenance nightmare. There’s no way a single article can bring anyone up to speed with all of the issues involved in the science lighting. Instead, my intention here is to introduce watershapers to a basic, commonsense approach to laying out low-voltage, halogen lighting systems, the goal being to enable you to converse intelligently and persuasively with lighting designers in the interest of helping
