engineering
We may have wrapped up the project discussed here more than five years ago, but I still see this backyard almost every time I take clients around to see examples of our work. The way I figure it, there's no better way to start a portfolio tour than by knocking prospects' socks off. There's lots of cool stuff going on here, some of which can readily be seen: the sweeping, Lautner-style perimeter-overflow edge around much of the free-form pool; the glorious water-on-water vanishing edge overlooking a large pond; a nice, full-featured spa; and the floating
A glance at our portfolio of dozens of golf-course projects dating back to 1990 shows that no two of them are exactly alike - despite the fact that our mission in each case has been exactly the same: It's our goal with every project to leave behind grassy patches that have seemingly been draped across natural terrain that has been there, untouched and untrammeled, since time immemorial. In other words, we've crafted elevation changes, watercourses, plantings and other defining features so carefully that it seems like folks who enjoy chasing little white, dimpled
Paramount Pool & Spa Systems (Chandler, AZ) makes the Parascope, a telescoping waterfeature that rises…
It's been my good fortune through the years to have worked with some wonderful clients who've inspired me to take the extra step, think in different ways and do everything possible to make them happy. This family was on that level: They love entertaining friends and relations, yet more than anything, the four of them enjoy spending time together - a throwback to the "Leave It to Beaver" spirit of the 1950s and '60s. At every turn, they were easygoing and patient in ways that made
For a watershaper who's spent a career designing and installing natural-looking ponds, streams and waterfalls using pumps and liners, this project was both an unusual treat and a distinct challenge - a dream job, as I saw it. I was called to the property at the suggestion of a landscape-maintenance company that wanted nothing to do with what the homeowners were asking, and the reason was pretty obvious: A spring-fed stream flowed across the property as it had done for at least hundreds and perhaps thousands of years, and it needed
Lots of pools built in the 1960s and '70s and even through the '80s were surrounded by ribbons of concrete decking of uniform width, all the way around. Frequently, those decks were too narrow to make them of much use for more than walking around the pool: lounge chairs are too long to be set up facing the water, and a poolside table and chairs cover far too much ground to be included. The solution that runs through the heads of lots of homeowners is simply to
Did you ever have a client who knew exactly what he or she wanted in a project, only to change direction once he or she heard the price? That happened with the poolscape discussed in this article - but with an unusual twist. The homeowner, a prominent South Florida businessperson, had purchased the waterfront property with its existing pool. And he wasn't finished: He also purchased two neighboring homes, flattening one to make way for a sculpture garden and setting up the other as staff housing. When we saw the site for the first time, the main residence was
We've participated in the construction of lots of great golf courses through the years, but this one was something special. It started for us at Pinnacle Design (Palm Desert, Calif.) with a call from one of the world's top golf-course architects, Ted Robinson, Jr., who let us know that we had to rush to prepare a presentation for a client in South Korea. As he explained the situation, if we couldn't win over the chairman of the conglomerate that was building the 27-hole course, the job would go to
