materials
I've always believed that great projects require three key elements: a beautiful design, knowledgeable and careful construction, and a good client. For the project pictured here, all three of those pieces were in place, and the result has become a significant point of pride for our firm. The site consists of three sloping acres in the upscale community of Mill Neck on the north shore of Long Island, N.Y. The home sits at the highest elevation of the property, which reaches down to a large, brackish pond fed by the waters of nearby Mill Neck Bay. The swimming pool and surrounding hardscape and landscape were
As a designer, I've always sought out exceptional finish materials to use in my projects. My background is in fine arts, and I've worked in the design/build business for years, creating high-end exterior and interior spaces and taking pride in finding surfacing products that excite my clients and beautify the work. Operating in south Florida, however, I kept running into so many limitations on what was available that it had the effect of limiting my creativity. Natural stone can be hard to come by in adequate supply where I live, for instance, and as much as I like tile, it doesn't fill the bill for every job. Anything's available at a price, of course, but even
Water moving in all sorts of different directions (but always in controlled ways) is a hallmark of one our favorite designers, architect David Tardiff. We've built the watershapes for many of his projects, and we've particularly enjoyed those that put both his vigor and special subtlety on display. Time and again, his designs have challenged us technically while rewarding our clients with results that always seem to leave them proud, amazed and thoroughly satisfied. As we've discussed in our previous WaterShapes articles, a large part of our business is about executing watershapes for architects and landscape architects in the backyards of mostly affluent clients in southern California's Orange County. Each designer has his or her own creative style and sensibility, leaving us to adapt the work we do to their "idea sets" while lending our years of practical experience in engineering and construction to the process. In working this way, we find that everyone comes out a winner: The designer creates work that is based in reality; we stretch and expand our skills to realize truly spectacular design concepts; and most important, clients gain refined spaces that hit the mark with respect to both functionality and aesthetics. The two projects we'll visit on these pages are
Since the dawn of civilization, it has stood as the single most enduring of all artistic media: From representations of mythological characters and historic events to applications as purely architectural forms and fixtures, carved stone has been with us every step of the way. As modern observers, we treasure this heritage in the pyramids of Egypt and Mesoamerica. We see it in the Parthenon in Athens, in the Roman Colosseum and in India's Taj Mahal - every one of them among humankind's finest uses of carved stone in the creation of monuments and public buildings. As watershapers in particular, we stand in awe before the Trevi Fountain in Rome, the glorious waterworks of the Villa d'Este and the fountains of Versailles, three of history's most prominent examples of carved stone's use in conjunction with water. But you don't need to
The renovation project I've been discussing for the past couple of issues will be on hold for a few weeks as we await the arrival of a shipment of custom tile from Italy. We'll pick up with that project once work resumes. In the meantime, let's begin coverage of what would have been the next project for "Details" - discussions that will carry us through a good part of the year to come. Everything about this Pennsylvania watershape has been impressive, right from the start. Simply put, it's one of the biggest and most elaborate projects I've ever tackled. As designed, the watershape will
It's right up there for longevity in the history of building materials with marble and concrete: The use of glass tile, in fact, dates to the Roman Empire and traces its path through widespread use in Byzantine art in the eastern Mediterranean before finding its way back to a primary role in the art and architecture of Renaissance Italy. From ancient times forward, glass tile has always been associated with beautiful and enduring works of art. Now enhanced by some modern-day manufacturing practices that serve to bring out its incredible gem-like features, the material still holds faith with all those centuries of tradition while reaching
As modern building materials have been developed, we humans have been remarkably proficient at applying them in ways that go well beyond the vision of their inventors. Such is the case with roofing membranes, which now are widely used as liners for backyard streams and ponds. It's understandable that landscape designers and contractors have taken to these rubber liners. After all, they make pond and stream construction inexpensive and easy. But from the perspective of the Japanese gardener or quality watershaper, convenience and affordability alone do not qualify a material for use. Instead, standards of durability and enduring
"True form is always organic in character." -- Frank Lloyd Wright I never studied Frank Lloyd Wright in school, but I've been intrigued by his work and design philosophy for years and had long intended to fill this gap in my education on my own. But that's proved to be easier said than done because of the huge number of books about him: There are simply so many of them that I never knew where or how to start. This dilemma came to an abrupt end when I ran across a book written in Wright's own hand. That book, An American Architecture, was first published in 1955 by Horizon Press and was reissued by Barnes & Noble in 1998. Edited by Edgar Kaufmann, the text is a compilation of Wright's notes, speeches and lectures spanning
It seems so simple: No matter whether it's a residential or commercial project, the design parameters for indoor swimming pools generally call for warm water (typically 82 degrees, or a bit less for a competition pool), air temperature two to four degrees warmer than the water, and a relative humidity in the enclosed space of between 55% and 60%. And it wasn't some committee of pool builders who came up with those figures: The numbers are endorsed and published by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration & Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and have been accepted as
It's a little too easy to lose sight of what holds the most meaning our work as watershapers - even when it's out there in plain view. In fact, if we're to be honest in assessing the palette of finish materials we use, I think most of us would have to concede that these products can become so familiar that thinking creatively about the full spectrum of their possibilities is something that often falls by the wayside. I believe we should be on guard against
