design Archives - Page 4 of 25

Brought in on what was originally a simple resurfacing job, Jimmy Reed, Alison Terry and Dave Penton ended up completely reworking this backyard. In Part 1, we look at what it took to convert a sad, old pool into a vibrant, highly textured work of art fully suited to a great setting.

The Magic Carpet

An Interview with Alison Terry, Dave Penton & Jimmy Reed by Jim McCloskey The project under discussion here is one I've followed for several years. I first visited the site with Jimmy Reed, a tile-installation specialist based in Calabasas, Calif., as part of a day-long tour of some of his favorite completed projects as well as a few in progress. At that point, the work on this pool was complete, but nothing substantial had yet been done with the spa, which wasn't even part of our conversation. The second time I saw the backyard was several months later: I was on a similar ride-around with pool contractor

Now familiar with the unusual realities of the huge fountain-renovation project they'd undertaken, J. Wickham Zimmerman and Chris Roy had to figure out how to proceed despite difficult access, limited pipe penetrations and, of course, super-high civic expectations.

Grand Solutions

It's the nature of the game: One of the great sources of pride for any good watershaping business has to do with its ability to find solutions to difficult challenges - a new way to achieve something familiar when the established or conventional approach won't work, for example, or dealing with site constraints that repeatedly send you back to the drawing board. That's the sort of pride we had coming out of our work on the Arthur J. Will Memorial Fountain and its accompanying splash pad at Grand Park in Los Angeles, and it was intensified by the fact that this was the restoration of a 60-year-old fountain that had originally been built with an entirely different approach from anything we'd consider today - but whose physical constraints we couldn't

It's tough to develop a landscape design that satisfies the social needs of a family while also meeting the practical needs of a thriving home-based business, writes Colleen Holmes. Ever consider what's involved in setting up a parking lot so it also serves as an off-hours retreat?

Committed to Balance

For most of my professional life, I've worked on projects in which the dominant color is green. With the project under discussion here, however, both the client and the setting called for something quite different. As I knew going in, the property, located in Northridge, Calif., is both a residence and a place of business, so on any given workday multiple cars and trucks invade the space and need convenient places to park. But while this primary use of a plaza-scale space as a parking pad suited clients' business needs, it was plainly too dusty and downright bleak to offer any

Approaching the renovation of an historic fountain set over an existing, untouchable structure is daunting enough. But it gets tougher, write J. Wickham Zimmerman and Chris Roy, when the original documentation is sketchy and you have no choice but to figure out how to proceed.

Grand Expectations

With any watershape renovation project, there's a great deal of anticipation of what you'll discover once the system is dismantled to whatever degree or level is necessary. In some cases, all is well and the process of reworking structures and systems unfolds smoothly. In others, however, there are surprises that can take your breath away. This was one of those "other" cases - the restoration of an historic fountain that had been in place since 1958 as well as the upgrading of an adjacent space to accommodate a splash pad for interactive play and provide a stage for

2019/9.2, September 18 — Fountain Maneuvers, Double-Duty Waterfeatures, Trip Planning and more

THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS September 18, 2019 www.watershapes.com FEATURE ARTICLE…

Historic restorations are typically difficult work, but as Rick Randazzo discovered 40 feet below the streets of New York, sometimes it can be fascinating, irritating and gratifying as well.

A Basement’s Bounty

In our usual run of business as installers of stone and tile in and around New York City, we can get involved in projects that take years to complete and involve us in applying tens of thousands of square feet of material within or onto a single high-rise building. In some of these projects, a pool or spa comes as part of the package, but they tend to be such small parts of the overall picture that it's fairly tough to focus on them. This was not the case, however, in our work on the renovation of the swimming pool and spa in the historic Woolworth Building in lower Manhattan. When it opened in 1913, this was the tallest skyscraper on the city's skyline and held that distinction for 17 years. For a time, it was the

Celebrating a Legend

Sad to say, I will not be able to see this exhibition for myself. But if you live within striking distance of the New York Botanical Garden or have any plans to be anywhere near New York City between now and September 29, please do not fail to visit NYBG while "Brazilian Modern: The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx" is up and running. This amazing event has

Infinite Potential

A few weeks back, I saw an item on the architecture website Arch Daily that immediately caught my eye. Entitled "Infinity Pools in 15 Architecture Projects" and compiled by Brazilian architect Eduardo Souza, the article delivers as promised - and I'm grateful that, for a change,

Everyday Serenity

This amazing structure sits just off the route toward a more prominent tourist attraction, notes Victoria Lautman in the last of her series of articles on India's stepwells. But as is true of so many of these marvels, Peena Mann ka Kund is more than worth a detour off a well-beaten path.