decking
Last month, I discussed the benefits of sustainability and its place in landscape and watershape design. As I hope I conveyed, I think it is incumbent upon us as professionals to be responsible for our actions and constantly aware of the effects our work has on the environment, now and in the future. With the current severe drought desiccating the southeast, ongoing water problems in the west and increasing pressure on the water-supply infrastructure nationwide, it’s more important than ever that we
I've always believed that an unlimited budget is not essential to making design magic. While having clients with deep pockets and a willingness to dig deeply into them is always nice and allows us a bit more leeway when it comes to artistic license, I've always observed that having relatively few constraints also tends to make some designers creatively lazy. By contrast, I've often found small-budget, small-space projects to be creatively stimulating. A couple of columns ago, for example, I discussed a project we'd been working on that posed challenges with its sunken deck footings and the need to accomplish a lot with
I've always believed that an unlimited budget is not essential to making design magic. While having clients with deep pockets and a willingness to dig deeply into them is always nice and allows us a bit more leeway when it comes to artistic license, I've always observed that having relatively few constraints also tends to make some designers creatively lazy. By contrast, I've often found small-budget, small-space projects to be creatively stimulating. A couple of columns ago, for example, I discussed a project we'd been working on that posed challenges with its sunken deck footings and the need to accomplish a lot with
All projects come to an end, of course, but there are times when the inevitable takes its own, sweet time. The project featured here, for example, took more than six years from the time I first met the clients until we wrapped things up. Unlike some projects that take a long time because of ongoing problems, change orders and difficult challenges, this one was very much a labor of love from start to finish. Sure, there were some tough spots, but for the most part, this was one of those jobs that we watershapers and landscape professionals can only hope will come along from time to time - projects we don't mind extending through a period of years. This one had everything going for it, starting with great clients who had the resources to do something special as well as playful, fun-loving personalities that made the process exciting and rewarding. Then there was the property: an acre of ocean-view hillside in Brentwood, Calif., with mature trees and a big, Cape Cod-style house that was going through extensive remodeling during the time we were involved with the landscape. The clients wanted something that was elegant but playful, with formal lines and structures but a light overall touch. They insisted on beautiful materials, were heavily involved in every decision and, ultimately, had our firm, New Leaf Landscape of Agoura Hills, Calif., work with
Many of the projects I tackle are largely about beauty and elegance and striking just the right balances between my watershaping and the setting, the architecture of the home and the character of my clients. In the case of the project depicted here, however, a couple of other considerations jumped into the mix - including impulses for fun and excitement as well as an overriding need to raise the visual energy level to align with the clients' personalities and a glorious setting. The result is an exquisitely adorned watershape that stands as one of the purest expressions of whimsy and unbridled joy I've ever produced. Truly, it all flowed from the clients and the setting. The clients are quite educated, well-traveled and sophisticated and had both the resources and the desire to do something special. Moreover, they're about as nice a couple as you could ever hope to meet and had refined tastes to match. As for the setting, we're talking beauty in the extreme: The home is a modern masterpiece perched atop a bluff in Malibu, Calif., with 180-degree ocean views and spectacular distant vistas. The only clinker on the property was the existing pool and the surrounding decks - an aggressively plain, kidney-shaped drag surrounded by equally boring decks. It was time for
In most projects, great work requires the watershaper's personal understanding of who the clients really are, deep down. That doesn't mean we have to become our clients' best friends or marry into their families. Rather, creating watershapes at the highest level involves a different kind of relationship, one in which a shared vocabulary and common vision develop through discussions of water, stone, art, plants and the orchestration and staging of experiences that will occur in given spaces. Take the project covered here as an example: The scope of the work, an unlimited budget and a mandate for the highest possible levels of quality were enough on their own to force us to explore the limits of our skills and creativity. More important from our perspective, however, is that we
Fifteen years ago, aquatic play attractions were found mainly in commercial waterparks in the form of large, multi-level, themed structures. Some smaller elements were found in the shallow ends of swimming pools, but they were generally limited to a few play apparatuses such as water umbrellas. Much has changed in recent years, and aquatic play systems are now featured in a greater variety of settings including city parks, recreation centers, resorts and a range of other recreational spaces. This trend did not burst forth overnight: For more than ten years, our firm and others have been helping things along by focusing attention on the value of concepts related to zero-depth aquatic play. We at Vortex Aquatic Structures in Montreal, for example, have designed our "Splashpads" to bring the joy and recreational value of aquatic play to almost any space. Among our objectives is bringing a measure of the commercial waterpark experience to places such as neighborhood parks, housing developments, campgrounds and other facilities, thereby allowing everyone within a community to experience
It's often said nowadays that watershaping is the art of fitting our work into the surrounding environment. In many ways, what we do at Star Pools in Houston is a prime application of that powerful yet basic concept in the way we tackle both the opportunities and limitations of the residential settings we encounter. Houston is dotted by affluent neighborhoods teeming with homes in classic Mediterranean and Tuscan styles. Stately is a word often used to describe these homes, and because we've based our design philosophy firmly on the idea that the swimming pool and garden areas should look as though they were designed as part of the home itself, our work is largely a manifestation of
In renovation projects, preparation of the pool's interior surface for a new finish is truly where the rubber meets the road - a key step in which what you've planned and what you actually do must come together. With this installment of "Details," we're doubling back to the Los Angeles project we left behind in October as we waited for tile to arrive from Italy. If you'll recall, the pool had been built in the 1920s and graces a property with a magnificent Gatsby-era home. As I mentioned at the outset of this interrupted sequence of columns, the homeowners have been extremely involved, always wanting to know as much as they possibly can about what's going on in their backyard. As I mentioned as well, the challenge
Natural stone is certainly beautiful, says watershaper Paolo Benedetti, but sustaining that beauty often means taking steps in the installation process to ensure easy maintenance and enduring protection of the stone's exposed surfaces. Here, in the first of a series on enhancing the appearance and durability of hardscape materials found around watershapes, he takes a look at the family of chemicals designed to seal in the splendor of stone.
