intended use

Design Time
When I sit down with clients for our first face-to-face meeting, we discuss a range of issues that will guide me when I return to my studio and get down to designing a watershape and surrounding areas for them.  We'll talk about colors, materials, the location of the pool, their preferences in art, the way they entertain and, perhaps most important of all, how they plan to use their backyard and swimming pool. Let's focus on that last point:  When we talk about how a pool is going to be used, what I really want to know is how it will be used on a daily or weekly basis (for swimming, exercise, play or simply as a visual), not how it's going to be used once or twice each year when they throw a big pool party.  My thought is that these clients will
Design Time
When I sit down with clients for our first face-to-face meeting, we discuss a range of issues that will guide me when I return to my studio and get down to designing a watershape and surrounding areas for them.  We'll talk about colors, materials, the location of the pool, their preferences in art, the way they entertain and, perhaps most important of all, how they plan to use their backyard and swimming pool. Let's focus on that last point:  When we talk about how a pool is going to be used, what I really want to know is how it will be used on a daily or weekly basis (for swimming, exercise, play or simply as a visual), not how it's going to be used once or twice each year when they throw a big pool party.  My thought is that these clients will
Design Psychology
When someone calls and asks you to "landscape my home," what does it mean? Are you going over to put plants and trees in the ground, or will you be rolling in with backhoes to install a pond?  This initial uncertainty is why, before any project begins in earnest, there are questions to be asked.  It's also why there are measurements to be taken, elevations to be shot, sketches and more sketches to be drawn, meetings to schedule and plans to present.   Then, maybe, a working design will develop and then, maybe, construction will start.   Gathering information and doing the foundation work on a design takes research, patience, experience and time, and it's never