spa
I'm finally at work again, more or less on a full-time basis - and grateful to report that things are going well: My lower back has stabilized and strengthened, I am mostly pain-free and, although I've been slowed by the four-week hiatus, I am back to my work and workout routines and
As a pool designer, my preference is to sit down with prospective clients, listen to what they have to say about a pending project and, working with their ideas, the site and the budget, come up with a program that makes all of us happy and proud. For the most part, that's the way things go for me these days. But I also know that, on certain occasions, it's necessary to go with the flow. In the project covered here, for example, a super-affluent property owner had called on a respected architect to
Each custom design project is, of course, different from any other. The client may be a known quantity, but the site and the budget won't be and, as professionals, we always end up responding to unique sets of variables with eyes wide open. In the first part of this series, we looked at the disembodied details and components that made up one of these unique design packages. Starting with this part and continuing into the next, we'll examine at what was involved in assembling that particular set of features and, in this article, look specifically at how my collaboration with the client proceeded from initial contact to acceptance of a preliminary design. Obviously, what I'll describe here is
RicoRock (Orlando, FL) now offers Vertical Wall, a waterfall system designed for use in contemporary…
As is true of many designers, I carry a large number of unusual ideas in the back of my mind, waiting for the right site, the right client and the right project to pull them out and put them to use. Some of these ideas are innovative or even wild and most of them are unconventional - otherwise, they would have found quicker paths to my drawing board. In the project covered in this article, I was lucky enough to break out two of these special ideas - one an unusual transition from the home's upper level down to the poolscape, the other in the form of
Coverall Stone (SeaTac, WA) supplies Pebble-Tile-1A, a mesh-backed mosaic tile made with natural pebbles. Designed…
As an engineering-oriented designer/builder, I know that it simplifies a project if I'm working with like-minded clients: They tend to listen well and get a quick grip on crucial details that have an influence on the outcome. They also tend to operate on the conservative side of the construction spectrum, preferring not to take unnecessary risks for themselves or their families, friends and neighbors. In the project discussed here, not only was the client an engineering and general contractor, but he and his wife were successful real estate investors with extensive holdings. As a result, they had the wherewithal, knowledge and desire to have the pool and spa behind their San Diego-area home stay put on the middle of a long
