engineering

Racing to the Finish Line
For most residents of southeastern Canada, the winter of 2013/2014 was memorable for off-the-hook low temperatures, plenty of snow and lots of discomfort.  For me and my crew, however, what we'll recall most is how hard we worked right through the teeth of the inclement weather to make a huge project deliverable by its May 2014 deadline. As was reported in the first article of this
Against the Clock
Living and working on a part of the globe where the winters are severe is almost balanced by how hospitable the weather generally can be for the rest of the year. That, of course, is something we count on as watershapers in the Canadian marketplace:  The joy of leaving winter weather behind is something our clients fully appreciate, so much so that they're willing to go the distance with
#24: Rain Curtain
This is one of those cases where, from a design perspective, I said just about everything I wanted to say about rain-curtain effects in the video linked below. They look great, they sound even better and my clients love them.  So what else is there to consider?  Well,
A Personal First
As I noted a couple weeks back, my to-do list of household projects has long included installation of a small fountain.   In the place I had always intended to put it, I figured that the watershape would be visible from the redwood deck where we do most of our warm-weather entertaining; from the stone deck where we
The ‘Forever’ Look
It was a great project:  The client called us in to look at a sloping backyard for which his one and only wish was an environment that would be "organic and pre-existing" - that is, a composition that looked as though it had been there forever, long before the adjacent home entered the picture. That sort of look is our stock in trade at Outdoor Republic, a Pleasanton, Calif.-based firm that specializes in the use of artificial rock.  As is often the case, we became involved after the homeowner had
2016/6.2, June 22 — Artificial Splendor, Pond Oxygen, Grand-Scale Serenity and more
THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS June 22, 2016 www.watershapes.com FEATURE ARTICLE…
Active Water
When agitated or flowing water moves through the air, it loses carbon dioxide.  That's particularly significant in systems with fountain jets, waterfalls or vanishing edges, observes Kim Skinner, with the loss affecting pH in ways that must be dealt with to avoid big problems.
The Humidity Factor
Indoor pools are wonderful as both design challenges and family recreation centers.  But as Paolo Benedetti discusses here, they'll stand the test of time only if you take care of moving the moisture they generate away from the indoor space -- no shortcuts allowed!  
#23: Perimeter-Overflow Spa
Once U.S. designers and builders "discovered" vanishing edges - probably at some point in the 1980s, although the look emerged long before then with some forward-thinking architects and watershapers - we've never let this highly visual design detail go.   I use these edge effects in my designs all the time, and setting them up in the best way possible has
Atlantic Water Gardens Expands Aerator Line
Atlantic Water Gardens (Mantua, OH) has introduced two new aeration kits for watergardens up to…