gardens Archives - Water Shapes

2018/7.1, July 11 — A Special Edition — WaterShapes’ Greatest Clicks!

THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS July 11, 2018 www.watershapes.com FEATURE ARTICLE/November…

Learning from the French

When you approach a design challenge, it always helps to be aware of the work of those who’ve gone before. That’s why college programs for designers, including architects and landscape architects, so often incorporate courses intended to teach students about the history of art and architecture. It’s a foundation that

Resplendent with large, classically styled homes, suburban Houston offers great surroundings for classic swimming-pool and garden designs. But this is also an area, says Stephen Wilson of Star Pools, where the ground is flat, the yards can be small and there’s not much by way of distant views. The result, he says, is that his company’s designs lean heavily on clean lines, rich materials and the understated watershapes he calls ‘inground sculptures.’

Classic Lines

It's often said nowadays that watershaping is the art of fitting our work into the surrounding environment. In many ways, what we do at Star Pools in Houston is a prime application of that powerful yet basic concept in the way we tackle both the opportunities and limitations of the residential settings we encounter. Houston is dotted by affluent neighborhoods teeming with homes in classic Mediterranean and Tuscan styles. Stately is a word often used to describe these homes, and because we've based our design philosophy firmly on the idea that the swimming pool and garden areas should look as though they were designed as part of the home itself, our work is largely a manifestation of

Designing a New Paradigm

There was a time not long ago when the mere thought of pool builders and landscape designers getting together on equal footing and having meaningful conversations about backyard design would have met with skepticism: There is not, it seems, much love lost between the trades. But times are changing, and if the dialogue begun around a table last August is any indication, there's a tremendous amount to be gained by keeping the communications channels wide open.