With the many questions he’s asked in classrooms and in conversations with fellow watershapers, Paolo Benedetti is constantly reminded of things he wishes he’d known when he started his business. In the first of two articles, he begins by discussing ten of these key observations.
By Kurt Kraisinger
Most successful designers have a bit of show business in them. Whether you play the sophisticated artiste or radiate a quiet competence, it’s all about making a connection with a client who is asking you to participate in a significant project, whatever your personality or approach.
I’ve always wondered how those at the extremes of the personal-style spectrum find work, but the fact of the matter is that all of us, designers and clients alike, are individuals who respond in different ways to different triggers – and I know for a fact that the way I work isn’t for everyone simply based on the fact that we don’t win every contract we pursue.
For all that, however, we at Lorax Design Group (Overland Park, Kans.) have developed our own pattern and have found that it works for us often enough to
By William N. Rowley
The first of this pair of articles mentioned that Julia Morgan had completed the architecture program at Beaux-Arts in Paris in three years rather than the usual five, but I didn’t mention all of the circumstances.
One of the rules of that institution prohibited the instruction of students after their thirtieth birthdays, which seems a totally bizarre limitation to us now but apparently made sense to French academicians at the turn of the 20th Century. Given the delays in her gaining a position at the school, she’d entered the program with the clock ticking and really had no choice but to
By Brian Van Bower
‘Why is it that, on the pool/spa side of the watershaping business, it’s so difficult to find much by way of truly workable plans and specifications?’
That’s how Brian Van Bower started his Aqua Culture column in the April 2003 edition of WaterShapes before adding: ‘In residential work, of course, the tone is set by local building inspectors and plan checkers, whose needs seem to vary tremendously from place to place. But that’s no excuse for the fact that the plans used in a great many residential projects are grossly
After years of serving as an expert witness in construction-defect cases, Paolo Benedetti knows what can happen when contractors fail to deliver the expected results. Here, he covers a set of practices aimed at keeping builders on the right path — and out of the courtroom.
THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS September 21, 2016 www.watershapes.com FEATURE ARTICLE All About the View The hilltop spec house called for a soft-spoken pool and spa that didn’t interfere with the great view beyond. So he started with a simple form, writes Ben Lasseter — then focused his creative energies on […]
March 5, 2014 www.watershapes.com ESSENTIAL Living Art The process of creating watershapes and landscapes is more than a simple exercise in orchestrating aesthetics, say rock designer Philip di Giacomo and watershaper Mark Holden. To these like-minded professionals, the purpose of their art is to conjure overt and subliminal perceptions in the hearts and minds of […]
By Jim McCloskey
By Dave Peterson
In my last “Currents” column (June 2009), I began a discussion of Project Manuals with an overview of these written specifications and other construction documents and how they are formally bound and made part of a project’s contract documents. This time, we’ll dig inside the manuals and take a closer look at what they contain.
Let me start with a simple recommendation: If you don’t already work with Project Manuals in some form, now is probably a good time to get started – especially if you’re a watershaper who prepares designs to be
By Dave Peterson
Professionals often seek ways to distinguish themselves in their chosen fields of endeavor. For watershapers and others who work in design- and construction-related disciplines, one prized distinction is consistency when it comes to drawings: It’s something that makes them easier to work with and more valued as collaborators.
Indeed, established firms repeatedly use the same drafting conventions, project after project, to a point where their plans become known and well-regarded for being easy to understand – and their projects much easier to