materials

2020/3.2, March 18 — Alpine Horseplay, Mirror Magic, 9/11 Memories and more
THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS March 18, 2020 www.watershapes.com FEATURE ARTICLE…
Deck-O-Seal Offers One-Step Caulk
Deck-O-Seal (Hampshire, IL) makes Deck-O-Seal One Step for caulking joints in structures that are subject…
Global Watershaping
'Have you had just about enough of the current chatter about the environment?  Have the terms "global warming," "carbon footprint" and "sustainable landscape" become more irritating to you than they are inspiring?  If so,' wrote Mark Holden in his Currents column for February 2010, 'all I can say is that I don't think you'll like the future.' 'In fact, the green movement . . . is rapidly on its way to becoming a mainstay of our shared cultural consciousness.  While there are certain political and social aspects of the discussion that
The Magic Carpet
An Interview with Alison Terry, Dave Penton & Jimmy Reed by Jim McCloskey The project under discussion here is one I've followed for several years. I first visited the site with Jimmy Reed, a tile-installation specialist based in Calabasas, Calif., as part of a day-long tour of some of his favorite completed projects as well as a few in progress. At that point, the work on this pool was complete, but nothing substantial had yet been done with the spa, which wasn't even part of our conversation. The second time I saw the backyard was several months later: I was on a similar ride-around with pool contractor
Committed to Balance
For most of my professional life, I've worked on projects in which the dominant color is green. With the project under discussion here, however, both the client and the setting called for something quite different. As I knew going in, the property, located in Northridge, Calif., is both a residence and a place of business, so on any given workday multiple cars and trucks invade the space and need convenient places to park. But while this primary use of a plaza-scale space as a parking pad suited clients' business needs, it was plainly too dusty and downright bleak to offer any
2019/9.2, September 18 — Fountain Maneuvers, Double-Duty Waterfeatures, Trip Planning and more
THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS September 18, 2019 www.watershapes.com FEATURE ARTICLE…
Gravel’s Virtues
Puzzled by its bad reputation among some of his clients, Mike Gannon began doing research on gravel. He'd always believed in its value, he says, but found a rich history that now aids in him on occasions when he needs to talk his clients through their moments of doubt.    
Organizing Chaos
The backyard-design process, it's been said, is something like completing a jigsaw puzzle: You start with a framed space and assemble available pieces to fill in the picture. But there are two problems with this common analogy: First, the number of available pieces far exceeds the physical capacity of the frame and, second, there are no precut tabs or notches to guide placement of the selected pieces. So you'd be closer to the mark if you said that design is like the worst, most challenging jigsaw puzzle ever - and even then, the typical backyard-design task is much harder. Shining a light on this process is
Mystical Moments
For me, one of the highlights of the 20th Anniversary Celebration for Genesis was the place most of us stayed:  The Allegretto Vineyard Resort is a spectacular facility created as an extension of the imagination of the property's owner, Douglas Ayres. The hotel embodies an eclectic blend of design concepts, from dashes of feng shui to dollops of talk-to-the-land spiritualism mixed in with
On the Verge
‘In discussing coping and decking,’ noted David Tisherman in his February 2008 Details column, ‘ I invariably combine them because, in my view, they are truly inseparable:  For a design to succeed, both must work together because they play such important roles in