engineering
For more than two full years, this project was my personal and professional obsession. It all started in 1993, when my client, a wealthy recording-industry magnate, called on me to design the landscape for a property he'd just acquired in Bel Air, one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in Los Angeles. The Spanish Colonial-style home had been built in the 1920s and was in a sad state of disrepair. By the time I arrived, it had been gutted to the studs, and very nearly all of the hardscape and plantings around the house had been torn out as well. What he was offering me was a tantalizingly blank canvas in a most spectacular setting. In the two years that followed, not only would we
From pools, spas and fountains to streams, ponds and waterparks, effective watershaping is largely about the plumbing that makes these systems work. If you see things that way, says hydraulics expert Steve Gutai, there's nothing more fundamental to success than making proper connections in the system's plumbing lines, first time, every time, and piping joints that will bear up under pressure for the long haul.
At its most basic, public art creates spaces in which people experience art without paying hard-earned dollars to own it or going to a museum or gallery to see it. Public art is also about giving everyone within eyeshot new types of experiences amid their daily routines. Perhaps it's an object they'll pass on the way to the subway or an environment they'll spot out of the corner of an eye as they drive to the grocery store. Maybe it's a place where people gather to eat lunch or a landmark for arranging meetings with friends. Whether it's familiar to the viewer or sneaks up unexpectedly, the work becomes
Take it from someone who has ripped out and replaced more than his share of old and failed swimming pools through the years: Some things are worth keeping! That's why it's so wonderful to find an old pool - a product of the industry's infancy - that has stood the test of time and has won the right to be left in place. This is the first in a series of columns on one such pool. It's also the start of a story about clients who appreciate art and style and have surrounded themselves with objects and spaces of true value and beauty. I knew right away that
There's no room for guesswork when it comes to structural engineering, says Ron Lacher of Pool Engineering, Inc., and that's especially true when it comes to concrete structures designed to contain water. Here, he opens a series on structural fundamentals related to watershapes by defining the need for precise structural planning and careful attention to workmanship - the keys, he says, to achieving a project's aesthetic and functional goals. Despite the apparent intricacy of any good set of engineering drawings and contrary to what many people think, structural plans for concrete watershapes are pretty cut and dried. At the most basic level, the art and science of structural engineering deals with predictable forces placed upon structures and with the construction techniques and materials required to counteract those forces. The basic mathematic calculations are straightforward stuff, and everything runs in accordance with building codes that
The notion that water can be used to treat physical problems and conditions is not new. In fact, when you study the history of watershaping and aquatic design, one of the first things you learn is that the ancient Romans might actually have had a better grip on the healing and nurturing powers of water than we ever will. In our own work in designing and installing environments that nurture the spirit and invigorate the body, we pursue that Roman heritage as best we can - and always keep water in mind as a key component. The project described in this article stands as one our most dramatic explorations of the curative power of water to date. The pool, spa and
Just as few sounds blend so beautifully or evoke such sensations of peace and calm as the sweet tones of birds singing along with the relaxing music of moving water, I'd also have to say that few sights in nature delight the eye more than watching migrating robins queuing up for a bath, hummingbirds darting through a mist or a bold vireo "plunge bathing" in a rippling pool. For most of my life, I've been inspired to observe the beauty and freedom of birds and am among those who have spent hours in the wild hoping to catch a glimpse of a
Tucked into a small cove in the mountains behind La Quinta in California's lower Coachella Valley, The Quarry Golf Club is hidden, ultra-private and basically unknown to all but members of the golfing elite and the wealthy few who play the course. First conceived by entrepreneur Bill Morrow and designed by renowned golf course architect Tom Fazio, the course is a prime example of just how beautiful golf courses can be - and of how critical a role landscaping and watershapes can play in defining their character and aesthetics. Our challenge was to embroider the course's 18 PGA-sanctioned, championship-caliber holes with
For the most part, the designers and builders of pools, spas and other watershapes visualize their projects in full sun, install them during daylight hours and seldom (if ever) see them after the sun goes down. That's both a problem and a shame, and it's reflected in the fact that the run of projects you encounter by mainline pool-industry folks - and, to a lesser extent, by people from the landscape trades - tend to treat the lighting of exterior spaces as an afterthought if it's really thought about at all. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that
When you look at this project in finished form, there's no way to see the months of struggle or the overall level of difficulty that went into its creation. You don't see the fact, for example, that we discovered while excavating the courtyard that the house itself was in imminent danger of collapsing. You don't see that the narrow access way buckled when we first started working, or the ugly trauma of the broken septic tank. You can't see the continuous changes in thought, direction and design that went into the deck, or the tremendous time and effort required to make the
