tight spaces

2016/11.2, November 16 — Rustic Remake, Easement Squeeze, Ancient Inspiration and more
THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS November 16, 2016 www.watershapes.com FEATURE ARTICLE…
Access Excess
It's a small backyard with a Texas-size easement - and a good thing that I like challenges, because designing a project for this outdoors-loving family in Katy was an exercise in making a whole bunch of ideas fit comfortably within an unusually constrained space. As we learned, their gated-community property is separated from the street directly behind it by a tall boundary wall.  This meant that there was no backing parcel to share
S.R. Smith Offers Treo Micro LED Lights
S.R. Smith (Canby, OR) has introduced the Treo Micro line for accent lighting and for…
The Toughest Option
In approaching big jobs with challenging access issues, sometimes you get lucky and can figure out an excavation solution that doesn’t involve the one we had no choice but to use in the project shown in this video. In other entries in this series, I’ve shown how to get the digging done with mini-Bobcats, conveyor systems and big disposal chutes. This time, we had a situation in which none of those options
2012/5.2, May 23 — Paladian Design, Conveyor-Belt Excavation, Hoover Dam and more
May 23, 2012 WATERSHAPES.COM FEATURE ARTICLE Palladio, Jefferson and You Palladian architecture is so pervasive,…
Pint-Size Inspiration
I must say that I look forward to receiving my own copy of WaterShapes in the mail each month.  It’s not because I can’t wait to see my own columns in print; rather, it’s because so I’m amazed and inspired by the work watershapers put on display here that I always devour each and every page.   That’s not, by the way, anything I’d say about the rest of the 30-odd trade magazines I receive via mail or e-mail.  WaterShapes always seems to deal with the best of the best, and reading about how these incredible projects come together is
Taking Flight
Last month, we began describing our work on an indoor butterfly garden for the Strong Museum in Rochester, N.Y. – an extremely challenging design/build project that required us to work as part of a large team in developing a complex garden, pond and waterfall composition. While the resulting butterfly-oriented design was definitely unusual in form and execution, it was also highly unusual in the convoluted way our firm became involved and in the complexities of
Wings of Whimsy
In the often wild and woolly world of custom landscape and watershape design, it’s sometimes impossible to predict the sources of the most interesting and challenging projects – or anticipate how we manage to find our ways into the middle of them.  It’s all part of what makes this profession so uplifting at times – and so confounding at others. I’ve worked hard to accept and embrace the strange tides of fortune this business entails.  As a case in point, this month (and next) I’m going to relate a story that captures the essence of what it can take to accommodate the unexpected and enlist the nerve it sometimes takes to