equipment
Fire effects have grown tremendously in popularity in recent years, especially among swimming pool designers and builders who use them in developing various fire-on-water features. On one level, it seems that these professionals (and their clients) have noticed that systems that contain and control fire serve as wonderful complements to systems that contain and control water. On a grander scale, however, it’s apparent that, as watershape designers and builders have become more and more creative, fire features have risen in the estimation of those who want to give their clients something special – something few others have. At my company, Grand Effects of Irvine, Calif., we’ve focused on making it easy for watershapers, general contractors and landscape designers and architects to bring fire into the picture across a range of applications. To that end, we’ve developed an array of completely off-the-shelf systems, ready to install, and have done all of the engineering and testing required to build confidence into every product. In doing so, we’ve studied possible effects and developed
As winter draws to a close here in the northeast, we begin preparing in earnest to deal with the inevitable springtime rush. There are contracts to sign, materials to order, plants to grow, schedules to set and hires (if any) to be made. And we do all of this knowing that, once the weather breaks, we want to burst out of the gate like an odds-on favorite at the Kentucky Derby. To make this happen, we need to be ready. Where I live and work, winters are usually long, so by spring our coffers are low, our staff is eager to get some exercise and our general desire to
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
It's rare in our fast-paced world when you get the chance to work closely with clients over an extended period of time – and in this case we took full advantage of the opportunity: All the way through the evolution of the project, the couple gave me voluminous information about what they wanted and enabled me not only to understand and deliver what they were after, but also allowed me in many instances to exceed their expectations. I had worked with him before on
Designing watershapes of any sort is becoming more and more challenging every day. Where not all that long ago consumers were happy if a pool or spa or fountain or pond simply looked good and operated reliably, there's a new generation of consumers who are much more interested in how these vessels are built and, more specifically, in knowing about how energy efficient they are. This trend is being driven on the one hand by the inevitability of rising utility rates and on the other by legislation such as California's Appliance Efficiency Code (Title 20) - a rule that's attracting the attention of code writers across the country because of the overwhelming importance these days of reducing energy consumption. With that backdrop, this article takes a look at a watershape's main energy consumer and the most basic of all its
In our business, when we talk about people with disabilities, we always put people first: We speak of "people with brain injuries," for instance, or "people with arthritis" or "people with spinal injuries." That's an important distinction, because the language informs the entire mindset needed to help them improve their situations in the most effective ways. For starters, this "people-first" approach helps us avoid misleading generalizations: Often, we find that two people with nominally similar conditions or disabilities will have significantly different needs and that the methods used to treat each may prove to be significantly different as well. Everything we do at the Brown Center, in other words, must be based on the individual's own
In our business, when we talk about people with disabilities, we always put people first: We speak of "people with brain injuries," for instance, or "people with arthritis" or "people with spinal injuries." That's an important distinction, because the language informs the entire mindset needed to help them improve their situations in the most effective ways. For starters, this "people-first" approach helps us avoid misleading generalizations: Often, we find that two people with nominally similar conditions or disabilities will have significantly different needs and that the methods used to treat each may prove to be significantly different as well. Everything we do at the Brown Center, in other words, must be based on the individual's own
Every so often, a project comes along that evolves as it rolls along, and what starts out as one set of tasks and parameters morphs to become something entirely different before it’s through. That was certainly the case on this residential-lake project: Located in the hills above Napa Valley, Calif., the job put us in touch with affluent, intelligent, fun-loving clients who had initially contacted us about the straightforward restoration of a dying lake located at the base of a ravine beset with unchecked plant growth and rattlesnakes. None of that was new to us: We
Sometimes you just know that a client is going to want something special - something nobody else has. I can think of no other entity that better fills that bill than the Walt Disney Co. Justly famed for its remarkable creativity, spirit of innovation and ultra-high standards for design and execution, I knew going in that working with this amazing organization would mean coming to the table with strong ideas, supreme self-confidence and a demonstrated willingness to test boundaries and perform beyond expectations. Our firm, Captured Sea of Sunset Beach, Calif., was founded with those exact qualities in mind and a mission to create fountain systems throughout southern California that are distinctive, unique in concept, superbly engineered and built to last. Through the past eight years, we've been fortunate to tackle several projects for Disney in southern California. In each case, they were looking for watershapes that would delight visitors while enduring the rigors of heavy-duty use and near-constant operation. The call about the fountain featured in this article came in late summer 1999 from Glendale, Calif.-based Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI), the remarkable division of the company responsible for designing its theme parks and attractions. They told us that they were
Sometimes you just know that a client is going to want something special - something nobody else has. I can think of no other entity that better fills that bill than the Walt Disney Co. Justly famed for its remarkable creativity, spirit of innovation and ultra-high standards for design and execution, I knew going in that working with this amazing organization would mean coming to the table with strong ideas, supreme self-confidence and a demonstrated willingness to test boundaries and perform beyond expectations. Our firm, Captured Sea of Sunset Beach, Calif., was founded with those exact qualities in mind and a mission to create fountain systems throughout southern California that are distinctive, unique in concept, superbly engineered and built to last. Through the past eight years, we've been fortunate to tackle several projects for Disney in southern California. In each case, they were looking for watershapes that would delight visitors while enduring the rigors of heavy-duty use and near-constant operation. The call about the fountain featured in this article came in late summer 1999 from Glendale, Calif.-based Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI), the remarkable division of the company responsible for designing its theme parks and attractions. They told us that they were
