ideas
I recently began work on a design for clients who live in a historic home just south of Rochester, N.Y. They've asked me to incorporate a pool, entertainment areas, a fireplace and a combined pool house/garage into the available space and make certain it all complements the architecture of the home and its only current outbuilding - a 150-year-old storage shed. Sitting at my drafting table, I was thinking how easy this one would be, conceptually at least. All I needed was there, from the home's architecture and an existing (and much beloved) 100-year-old pergola to the old shed, so the main challenge would come in drawing the details rather than in deciding what to do. Usually, of course, it's the other way around and
In this day and age, designers have a variety of ways to communicate their ideas to clients - hand drawings, models and computer imagery among them. We also know every client is unique and that each has his or her own way of absorbing information and processing concepts. Although there are some who never fully understand a designer's vision until a project's been built, most clients will accept one style of design presentation or another and in some way visualize what's happening. In the project we're currently engaged in with an historic Spanish Colonial Revival home in Orange County, Calif., however, we at Holdenwater, a design firm based in Fullerton, Calif., have had to use four
In this day and age, designers have a variety of ways to communicate their ideas to clients - hand drawings, models and computer imagery among them. We also know every client is unique and that each has his or her own way of absorbing information and processing concepts. Although there are some who never fully understand a designer's vision until a project's been built, most clients will accept one style of design presentation or another and in some way visualize what's happening. In the project we're currently engaged in with an historic Spanish Colonial Revival home in Orange County, Calif., however, we at Holdenwater, a design firm based in Fullerton, Calif., have had to use four
We may be well into our ninth year of publication, but I'm still amazed and often amused by the ways that some people choose to describe WaterShapes. I've heard some armchair critics, for instance, dismiss us "a pool magazine that covers ponds," "a pond magazine that covers pools" or "a fountain magazine with
We may be well into our ninth year of publication, but I'm still amazed and often amused by the ways that some people choose to describe WaterShapes. I've heard some armchair critics, for instance, dismiss us "a pool magazine that covers ponds," "a pond magazine that covers pools" or "a fountain magazine with
Thomas Alva Edison once said, "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." That may be his most famous utterance - and for good reason: A good idea is important in just about any creative endeavor, but without dogged pursuit of appropriate
Thomas Alva Edison once said, "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." That may be his most famous utterance - and for good reason: A good idea is important in just about any creative endeavor, but without dogged pursuit of appropriate
It's no exaggeration to say that landscape design, whether residential or commercial, is in something of a rut these days. Nor is it saying anything new. Even in settings separated by great distance - a planned community in Plano, Texas, for example, compared to one in Toms River, N.J. - you'll find almost the exact same hardscape and planting treatments. There's just an incredible homogeneity in design these days. If you find yourself depressed by that predictability (or are stuck in those creative doldrums yourself), I strongly recommend picking up a copy of Breaking Ground: Portraits of Ten Garden Designers (Artisan, a division of Workman Publishing, 1997). Written by Page Dickey, this heavily illustrated 208-page text treats us to insightful and intimate looks at a set of extraordinarily diverse
It's no exaggeration to say that landscape design, whether residential or commercial, is in something of a rut these days. Nor is it saying anything new. Even in settings separated by great distance - a planned community in Plano, Texas, for example, compared to one in Toms River, N.J. - you'll find almost the exact same hardscape and planting treatments. There's just an incredible homogeneity in design these days. If you find yourself depressed by that predictability (or are stuck in those creative doldrums yourself), I strongly recommend picking up a copy of Breaking Ground: Portraits of Ten Garden Designers (Artisan, a division of Workman Publishing, 1997). Written by Page Dickey, this heavily illustrated 208-page text treats us to insightful and intimate looks at a set of extraordinarily diverse
The issue you hold in your hands marks the completion of WaterShapes' fifth year in print - a milestone that I can't believe is happening so soon. It doesn't seem all that long ago that
