fountain jets
After starting in the pool industry more than 40 years ago as a service technician, I gradually became involved in repairs, then remodeling work and, finally, with design and new construction. I've now built commercial and high-end residential projects, done numerous vanishing-edge installations and have pursued designs and details I wouldn't have dreamed of doing back in 1979. But there was one look that I'd never had an opportunity to work on with any of my clients: a perimeter overflow. That all changed last year in a backyard in Alamo, Calif., and the interesting thing is that
AquaMaster (Kiel, WI) manufactures the Celestial Fountain line. Featuring multiple, interchangeable spray patterns, the units…
It’s not often that a watershaper tackles a job that takes more than two years of complete, full-time effort, but that’s been the case for the project pictured here. For nearly two and a half years, in fact, I devoted virtually all of my working life to this single backyard watershape environment, and as I’ve mentioned in previous articles, there were times when I wondered if I was crazy to get involved with a project of this scope. Indeed, to describe it simply as a “backyard watershape environment” is to fall miles short of conveying the complexity of the systems covered in two previous WaterShapes articles (“When Dreams Grow,” April 2008, click here; and “Layering the Experience,” July 2008, click here): It was a monster project, and there were times I thought the beast had me at a distinct disadvantage. You know all about that, of course, if you’ve followed this sequence of articles, so I won’t belabor the point. Here, we’ll wrap things up by letting the photographs tell most of the story – although I must say the images don’t quite
Crystal Fountains (Concord, Ontario, Canada) has introduced Spyra, a jet system in which water…
It’s a project I won’t soon forget, believe me. In the April 2008 issue of WaterShapes, I offered the first of what ultimately will be three articles on an enormously ambitious project I began working on more than two years ago. In that span, I’ve found myself taking whatever solace I can from the fact that everyone who’s become involved with the project (or has even heard about it in any detail) concedes that it’s probably the most complicated backyard watershape they’ve ever encountered. Last time, I covered the scope of the project in general terms, outlining the design-development process and rolling through some of the more intricate details of the early construction phases. This time, we’ll move along to take a close look at the multiple water systems and effects and the hydraulic approaches needed to make them all work. (In thinking things through in preparation for writing this article, I began to suspect that there might be enough here to fill a small book; being a merciful soul, however, I’ll stick to the key points and keep things moving.) To recap briefly: The project features
Some clients don’t know any limits when it comes to their ambitions – and that’s certainly been true in this case. His mountain-sized home is set on a relatively flat four-acre parcel in otherwise hilly Ramona, Calif. The client himself describes the building as looking like a casino, and indeed it does have a decidedly “eclectic” architectural look. What he wanted was a backyard to match – a free-wheeling composition that might best be described as a Tommy Bahama-inspired tropical resort. He let me know that the family
Let me introduce you to an exciting project I've been working on most of this year. Right from the top, I'll say that even in the realm of the unique and rarified, this one is truly amazing. The clients are quite well-to-do, and the moment you walk into their home, you can't help recognizing that they are accomplished art collectors with an eye for modern masters as well as folk art. Their beachfront Malibu, Calif., home - one of
