pool
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
It's not too unusual to replace all of the plumbing, equipment and electrical lines as part of a swimming pool renovation project. It's quite another story, however, when you need to make sure all of it happens without disrupting the deck surrounding the vessel. As mentioned in my last two "Details," that's precisely what we've been asked to do in renovating a 70-year-old pool in the historic Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. The presence of a beautiful, valuable, imported limestone deck means that we've had to do all of our work from inside
One of the real tricks in any art form can be the challenge of exercising restraint. Bigger isn't always better, and both scale and size do matter. In other words, just because you can create something grand, it doesn't always mean that you should. This principle of proportionality has a sharp, specific meaning in the world of the custom watershaper, especially when clients ask for something that is oversized for the property or more elaborate than called for by the setting or surrounding architecture. We all know where it comes from: Clients have seen something they like, and it
If the art of watershaping is ultimately about visuals, then creating a situation for yourself in which you're virtually guaranteed to create visual disruptions is something you certainly do not want to do. That's the situation I currently face in the renovation of a pool at a stunning, 1920s-vintage home in the heart of Los Angeles. As I indicated in my last column, it's a remarkably beautiful setting that features a 70-year-old pool that was well designed, expertly installed, well worth keeping - and surrounded by
For more than two full years, this project was my personal and professional obsession. It all started in 1993, when my client, a wealthy recording-industry magnate, called on me to design the landscape for a property he'd just acquired in Bel Air, one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in Los Angeles. The Spanish Colonial-style home had been built in the 1920s and was in a sad state of disrepair. By the time I arrived, it had been gutted to the studs, and very nearly all of the hardscape and plantings around the house had been torn out as well. What he was offering me was a tantalizingly blank canvas in a most spectacular setting. In the two years that followed, not only would we
From pools, spas and fountains to streams, ponds and waterparks, effective watershaping is largely about the plumbing that makes these systems work. If you see things that way, says hydraulics expert Steve Gutai, there's nothing more fundamental to success than making proper connections in the system's plumbing lines, first time, every time, and piping joints that will bear up under pressure for the long haul.
Take it from someone who has ripped out and replaced more than his share of old and failed swimming pools through the years: Some things are worth keeping! That's why it's so wonderful to find an old pool - a product of the industry's infancy - that has stood the test of time and has won the right to be left in place. This is the first in a series of columns on one such pool. It's also the start of a story about clients who appreciate art and style and have surrounded themselves with objects and spaces of true value and beauty. I knew right away that
When you look at this project in finished form, there's no way to see the months of struggle or the overall level of difficulty that went into its creation. You don't see the fact, for example, that we discovered while excavating the courtyard that the house itself was in imminent danger of collapsing. You don't see that the narrow access way buckled when we first started working, or the ugly trauma of the broken septic tank. You can't see the continuous changes in thought, direction and design that went into the deck, or the tremendous time and effort required to make the
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
Of all the concepts of hydraulic-system design, there are few that have more importance than the correlation between water flow (that is, capacity expressed as gallons per minute) and line velocity (the speed at which the water travels). As water travels through a pipe, its increase in speed (that is, its line velocity) results in an increase in resistance (expressed as feet of head) and in a reduction of end pressure, which is measured in pounds per square inch (psi). In other words, an increase in friction losses and a drop in pressure is the result of increased water velocity at a given flow. If that makes sense to you without further explanation, then you know much of what you need to know when it comes to selecting pipes and fittings and setting up a watershape's plumbing system. If it doesn't, this article will cover the basics - from selecting pipes and sizing lines to
