reflections
After starting in the pool industry more than 40 years ago as a service technician, I gradually became involved in repairs, then remodeling work and, finally, with design and new construction. I've now built commercial and high-end residential projects, done numerous vanishing-edge installations and have pursued designs and details I wouldn't have dreamed of doing back in 1979. But there was one look that I'd never had an opportunity to work on with any of my clients: a perimeter overflow. That all changed last year in a backyard in Alamo, Calif., and the interesting thing is that
In the course of my career as a landscape architect, I've had the good fortune to work on the full range of possible projects, from residences to commercial and institutional properties and in spaces ranging from the compact to the vast. Through all of this experience, I have to say that working on botanical gardens, in whole or in part, has been about as satisfying as it gets. The first two articles in this three-part series have demonstrated some of the potential these facilities have to
From the start, this one was all about reflections. The client was building a beautiful new home in Paradise Valley, an older, high-end suburb of Phoenix, Ariz., that nestles up against the base of Camelback Mountain. His greatest desire was to pull the dramatic structure and its setting together with a big, courtyard-style pool that would offer him special, unique perspectives on his surroundings, both up close and in the distance. To make it happen, the home builder had taken some pencil sketches provided by the client and his interior designer and handed them off to his
Did you ever have a client who knew exactly what he or she wanted in a project, only to change direction once he or she heard the price? That happened with the poolscape discussed in this article - but with an unusual twist. The homeowner, a prominent South Florida businessperson, had purchased the waterfront property with its existing pool. And he wasn't finished: He also purchased two neighboring homes, flattening one to make way for a sculpture garden and setting up the other as staff housing. When we saw the site for the first time, the main residence was
With increasing frequency, I'm running into higher-end clients who lead hectic 9-to-5 lives - too packed for them to be able to enjoy the swimming pool we're proposing to build with much more than holiday-weekend frequency. Obviously, the key with these homeowners is making certain the pool we're discussing is something they can appreciate and enjoy 24 hours a day - whenever they happen to be home and can be drawn out into a
