spatial organization
It's a class of projects I'm coming across more and more often these days: Clients with homes in new developments want swimming pools and spas for their backyards, but the buildings are so big and consume so much of the available real estate that finding places to put worthy watershapes is a real challenge. The difficulty, of course, is that these homeowners are just like the owners of larger properties in wanting more than just pools and spas these days: They're thinking about generous seating and dining areas, outdoor
There are three things I particularly like about this project: The first is that it was a referral through Skip Phillips, a co-founder of Genesis and one of my mentors as I've gained experience as a watershaper. He had worked on a project for the clients in Canada, and they asked if he knew of a good pool company in the Phoenix area. Backed up by our portfolio and reputation, Phillips's recommendation made us the right choice. The second is that the site had so
As landscape professionals, most of us seek not only to innovate and drive the industry to new levels, but also endeavor as necessary to learn about basic design principles and styles that have inspired and ignited design movements in past centuries. By studying the range of architectural and landscape styles that have gone before us, we learn to use historical cues to guide us in our current tasks. At the same time, our knowledge of what was done in the past positions us to develop variations on themes and do things
One of the keys to designing effective spaces for human occupation is to create opportunities for movement from one place to another. This component of mobility adds functionality and utility to just about all spaces while keeping them vital and interesting. In watershape design, we have several options when it comes to introducing mobility to our work, including pathways and bridges that lead to
