perspectives
If I've learned one truth about working with water in confined areas, it's that success is most often measured by how much more spacious an added watershape makes those areas seem. The funny thing in this particular case is that the yard wasn't especially small, sloping away from a formal house down to a rustic cottage set on the edge of the property. What was crowded was the upper-level area into which we decided to insert a big part of the pool: It was hemmed in on one side by the home and on the other by the lot's setback - a span of maybe 28 feet - below which the available space opened up and flowed down for about 30 feet to the cottage. In quick order, I found myself confronting three
'We water and landscape professionals literally shape the outdoor environments in which we work - cutting grades, building walls, planting trees, installing pools, ponds and fountains and preparing patios, decks, planting beds and lighting systems.' 'In designing these outdoor-living spaces,' noted Bruce Zaretsky in kicking off his On the Level column in
Our work in this backyard was only part of a larger project - a big part, to be sure, but once we were done a landscape crew came on site and kept on working. That's not unusual with a project on this scale, but we were so happy with our work that it was a bit disappointing not to paint the entire picture. In some sense, however, I think this made us focus all the more on
Consider the way I spent my time yesterday: I had breakfast in an upscale eatery to discuss teaching a class. I went through a phone interview with a publication’s editor. I hung up the phone and headed over to a job site I knew would be a total mess after a night that had given us an unexpected inch of rain. Adding to the uncertainty, I was to
When I started my career more than 20 years ago, habit and standards dictated that swimming pool plaster should be white. By that time, happily, a handful of suppliers had begun offering colored aggregates, and then products including PebbleTec began expanding the palette to a point where about a dozen colors were available, give or take a few. These were shades of blue, mostly, ranging through to grays and darker grays. Then, about ten years ago,
By Lenny Giteck A study has shown that 60 percent of African-American children don't know how to swim - twice the rate for white children. And the rate at which black children drown in this country is three times the overall drowning rate for kids. The picture for African-American adults is similarly disturbing. What are the causes for this disparity? What are the solutions? Sadly, this problem has largely been
In a previous edition of WaterShapes EXTRA!, I discussed the merits and deficiencies of Hearst Castle, and was quickly rewarded with a torrent of other peoples’ opinions. In all of the many comments I’ve seen, one thing is clear: Hearst Castle is
For the past several years, a number of people in the swimming pool industry have debated whether saltwater has a detrimental effect on concrete and, in some cases, on stone decks. As one who has worked extensively with saltwater chlorination systems, I've studied this issue in depth in
A Letter to the First Lady