Tag: koi

2019/7.2, July 24 — Digital Delights from the WaterShapes Archives — and more

THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS July 24, 2019 www.watershapes.com FEATURE ARTICLE/August 20, 2014 Add a Spa, Save a Home It didn’t take long forPaolo Benedettito notice that his prospective client’s house was giving way on a slowly collapsing hill. Armed with a fresh soils report, he designed a spa and stone […]

Nature’s Ways

0When a pond’s fish shift to spawning mode, all sorts of things start happening in a hurry — in turn whipping new pond owners into a frenzy right alongside their fish.  At these times, Mike Gannon counsels restraint and helps novices recognize and follow what’s happening.

 

 

Every Piece in Place

Seven watershapes on three levels, each one as dramatic as the next? The concept alone is breathtaking, report Claude Kershner IV and Jeremy Guillen, who say a great design and a superb project team gave them exactly the support they needed to deliver perfection. By Claude Kershner IV & Jeremy Guillen

When you step up to tackle what might possibly be the most challenging job your company has ever pursued, there’s definitely a gut check involved.  Do you have the required staff?  Can you call on top-flight subcontractors?  Do you have the stamina to get involved and stay involved for the duration of a seriously long, seriously complex project?

As we found in building the seven watershapes

Split-Level Pond

Setting up a vanishing-edge Koi pond offers unusual challenges to the watershaper. First, notes Scott Cohen, you need to accommodate the fish and keep them safe. Then there are the aesthetic issues -- plus a few details of installation that require extra-special attention. By Scott Cohen

Given the choice, there are few projects I enjoy more than renovations:  The process of taking an existing outdoor space that isn’t making people happy and coming to their rescue with a personalized dreamscape is about as satisfying as it gets.

This sort of shift in vision happens quite often when homes change hands and the new owners bring in a different set of needs and desires.  In grand terms, there might be nothing particularly “wrong” with the original setting, but if the new owners either want to

2017/8.1, August 9 — Vanishing-Edge Pond, 24/7 Poolscapes, Algae Management and more

THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS August 9, 2017 www.watershapes.com FEATURE ARTICLE Split-Level Pond Setting up a vanishing-edge Koi pond offers unusual challenges to the watershaper. First, notes Scott Cohen, you need to accommodate the fish and keep them safe. Then there are the aesthetic issues — plus a few details of […]

Meeting Special Needs

Ponds are often valued for being uniquely calming and comforting.  But for a child with autism, these watershapes can also be therapeutic in a number of ways.  That’s wonderful news for these kids, Mike Gannon observes — and great for their families as well.

 

Koi Courtyard

Lined with shimmering Travertine, the formal courtyard needed some softening. What could be better, thought Colleen Holmes, than adding a sonorous waterfall along with a crisp, rectilinear pond -- and then livening it all up with the flashing colors of mood-altering fish?By Colleen Holmes

When we think about Koi ponds, the images that most often come to mind are of spaces entirely naturalistic:  irregular shapes, edges offering limited direct access, lots of aquatic and terrestrial plants interacting at the margins and, as a rule, little suggestion of formality in the design.  

That was certainly the case in a project I recently shared through

2017/4.2, April 19 — Sustainable Persuasion, Formal Pondscape, Island Memories and more

THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS April 19, 2017 www.watershapes.com SUSTAINABLE TRENDS Value Propositions Along with concerns about water consumption, questions on space allocation and energy use constitute the ‘Big Three’ among issues raised in sizing up fountain projects. Here, Robert Mikula wraps up this three-part series by offering answers that turn […]

Working Out Front

There were some positives in the existing front yard, says Colleen Holmes. But the overall space needed lots of attention to turn the Koi pond and its bland, disjointed surroundings into a warmer, more effective transition from the public sphere to the family's private retreat. By Colleen Holmes

In my lengthening career as a landscape designer and installer, I have worked on every aspect of a variety of residential and commercial projects – indoors and outdoors; on backyards, sideyards and front yards; on formal gardens, wild meadows and stands of trees; and on pools, spas, fountains, ponds, streams, waterfalls and more.  

I enjoy every part of the projects that come my way, but

2017/1.2, January 25 — Fish Out Front, Water Wall Basics, Japanese Style and more

THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS January 25, 2017 www.watershapes.com FEATURE ARTICLE Working Out Front There were some positives in the existing front yard, says Colleen Holmes. But the overall space needed lots of attention to turn the Koi pond and its bland, disjointed surroundings into a warmer, more effective transition from […]