perfection

Super Vision
'It's a fact of life,' declared David Tisherman in opening his Details column 15 years ago this month:  'The best design feature in the world isn't worth anything if it isn't executed properly.  And no matter how good your in-house staff or subcontractors are, they need guidance when it comes to the nuts-and-bolts work of getting the job done the way its designer intends.'   '[W]hen you have good, tight supervision provided by a knowledgeable overseer working with good crews and a good set of plans, anything
Searching for Perfection
Although we think of them together as activities in the world of exterior design, watershaping and landscaping have some significant distinctions. The watershapers who design and build pools, spas, fountains and waterfeatures, for instance, fully intend them to be structurally static and unchanging (a firm hope, anyway, especially in earthquake country) once they are completed.  By contrast, the landscape professionals who design and install the gardens, trees and plants that may surround a watershape work with dynamic, constantly changing materials. What this means is that perfection is a much more elusive quality for landscape professionals by comparison to watershapers.  Indeed, for us on the green side, achieving the kind of perfection one often
Searching for Perfection
Although we think of them together as activities in the world of exterior design, watershaping and landscaping have some significant distinctions. The watershapers who design and build pools, spas, fountains and waterfeatures, for instance, fully intend them to be structurally static and unchanging (a firm hope, anyway, especially in earthquake country) once they are completed.  By contrast, the landscape professionals who design and install the gardens, trees and plants that may surround a watershape work with dynamic, constantly changing materials. What this means is that perfection is a much more elusive quality for landscape professionals by comparison to watershapers.  Indeed, for us on the green side, achieving the kind of perfection one often