tools
Technidea Corp. (Escondido, CA) manufactures the ZipLevel Pro-2000, a digital altimeter and leveling system for…
'To my way of thinking,' wrote David Tisherman to open his Details column in August 2004, 'professional design work requires a professional workspace in which all of the necessary professional tools are available. 'In fact, for the designer creating custom watershapes, I see the space in which the work actually unfolds as being critical and cutting to the very heart of what it really means to be a "designer." I know that
'As winter draws to a close here in the northeast,' wrote Bruce Zaretsky to start his May 2009 On the Level column, 'we begin preparing in earnest to deal with the inevitable springtime rush. There are contracts to sign, materials to order, plants to grow, schedules to set and hires (if any) to be made. And we do all of this knowing that, once the weather breaks, we want to burst out of the gate like an odds-on favorite at the Kentucky Derby. 'To make this happen,' he continued, 'we
I followed a well-worn path when I started designing watershapes: I acquired a drafting table and worked at gaining proficiency in the use of pencils, protractors, scales, squares, various templates, colored markers and a multiplicity of other drawing tools as a means of communicating design ideas to my clients. To this day, I have great admiration for those who work quickly and decisively with these tools, but about ten years ago I was introduced to an array of digital design systems - and I've been
The project we've been covering in this series of videos is definitely in the home stretch, but there are several key details that still need our attention. The most important of these from the perspective of long-term performance is properly securing the liner to the faceplate of the waterfall/filter unit. As seen in the video linked below, this step in the process is all about preventing leaks: No matter how small they might be, the fact that they'd allow water to
"No matter how sophisticated you may be, a large granite mountain cannot be denied - it speaks in silence to the very core of your being." - Ansel Adams The man considered by many to be the father of American landscape architecture often referred to himself as a "garden maker," a self-description by Fletcher Steele that influenced me greatly when I first saw it in a book about him in 1990. When I think of the word "making" on its own, I see images of human hands crafting cherished artifacts or offerings, while the word "garden" conjures a host of images from Eden to Shangri-La. Taken together, however, the words evoke even more powerful images of the deliberate shaping of places of great beauty and serene repose - an apt definition for any landscape professional. When I borrowed those
People who know me are aware of the fact that I can be quite outspoken. They know I've been extremely critical of the pool and spa industry and have made it my crusade to argue that, as an industry, we need to elevate our game. My particular concern lately has to do with the areas of design and presentation. Before I get started, please note that what I'm about to say is directed mainly to readers who come to WaterShapes through what is traditionally labeled as the pool and spa industry. (To be sure, this information should also be of interest to those of you who come to watershaping from the landscape industry because it
Among the most useful and influential books I've read in my career as a landscape architect and watershape designer is Color Drawing by Michael E. Doyle (John Wiley & Sons, 2nd edition, 1999). I went in to landscape architecture mainly because I wanted to learn to do beautiful hand-drawn renderings and presentations. I'd started drafting in 7th grade, always really enjoyed the process and, even though I'm far from a great natural talent, have always seen drawing as a
The Anxieties of Influence