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Helena Arahuete joined the staff of John Lautner's architectural firm in the early 1960s, at a point where he was turning out some of his most spectacular work. Indeed, Lautner can indisputably be said to have designed some of the most beautiful and unusual homes built in the second half of the 20th Century. An apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright's who studied with the master at Taliesen, Lautner was an exponent of the philosophy and discipline known as "Organic Architecture," an approach Arahuete, now an eminent architect in her own right, has continued to use and refine while running the firm that still bears Lautner's name. She is now one of the world's leading practitioners of Wright's and Lautner's approach to creating unique structures that are intricately and intimately tied to their surroundings. She is also so firm a proponent of the integration of watershapes into those architectural forms that in April 2000, she carried her message to the first Genesis 3 Level II Design School, held in Islamorada, Fla. - and welcomed an opportunity to present some of Lautner's work here by way of defining the place watershapers have at the design table with
For as long as I can remember, I've fantasized about owning my own swimming pool. I suppose such daydreams are the natural
Not every upscale pool contractor has to be working with his or her own designs to be successful in building beautiful pools. Our company, for instance, has established its reputation by excelling at making the ideas of others come to life. Examples of this can be found in the work we did at One Ford Road, a development where we were asked to follow through on designs prepared by three of Southern California's best-known landscape architects. We've found here and elsewhere that when you work with highly creative people (including those who designed the pools, spas and waterfeatures pictured on these pages), the process can be truly rewarding, exciting and even
Throughout my entire working life, I've never moved too far away from the water. From my early days as a pool manager (beach bum) at a resort hotel in Miami Beach through many years in pool service and still today, I've always worked and played in and around water. Whatever it is about bodies of water that infects people's spirits and pushes their internal fun buttons, I have it bad: I love to sail, fish and snorkel, I like living near bodies of water and I just love to look at water. On top of all that, I'm a Pisces. If there's one thing I find that I tend to have in common with my customers, it's this passion for things aquatic and the pleasures that come along with them. This is powerful stuff, and I've come to believe that our innate fascination rises to an even higher level of drama and interest when
Good pool design isn't something that happens by chance. It's the product of a mental discipline applied to the entire setting, from one end of the yard to the other. It's the result of an over-arching vision that incorporates the watershape as a desirable component in a whole tapestry of textures, traditions, shapes, surfaces, highlights, spaces, contours and lines that please the eye, gratify the soul and bring a smile to the face of the observer. Perceiving this integration is often intuitive, but you can tell when it's been done right. You also can tell when the mark has been missed and can spend minutes or hours (or days) unraveling and considering everything from severe challenges and missed opportunities to lapses in focus or simple errors in taste and judgment. If your head's in the right place, you'll probably learn more from the problem pool than you will from the gem. Putting pool-industry heads in that right place is part of the thoughtful, reflective approach to pool design offered in the Genesis 3 Design School, which has convened three times and has now touched the sensibilities of more than 75 designers and builders. While school is in session, participants are immersed in an ocean of information on design principles, technical issues, presentation techniques and, perhaps most forcefully of all, on attitude and mindset. The basic message: Every pool can be special, appropriate and expressive of the
As designers and builders, we might feel with every new project that we have created the most profoundly original setting in the world. In most cases, however, our most likely achievement has to do with adapting an architectural concept developed long ago, putting a modern twist on it and calling it our own. For me, in fact, the more I learn about the history of watershaping, the more I feel connected to ancient watershapers and recognize that we haven't created anything really "new" in a long time. We all know clients, for instance, who want their backyards or public spaces to look like Spanish or Italian villas, French or English formal gardens, or maybe peaceful
I've had the pleasure over the past few years of working with a client who ultimately has become a good friend - and with whom I created a very unique garden. The process of designing the space was lengthy, but it afforded me time to truly understand my client and her wants. As we progressed, many issues arose that needed to be addressed; over time and at many points, patience was indeed a virtue. Her yard had existing structures as well as large Eucalyptus, Pittosporum and Chorisia trees and other plantings along with
Among the most complicated tasks you'll encounter in designing a watershape is determining your clients' style and how it applies to the project. How important is it to know what style they want? That's a complicated
There's something very special about the people who write for WaterShapes. If you haven't noticed already, let me point out that this magazine is written by people in the
