tradition Archives - Water Shapes

The art and craft of building wooden bridges has been overtaken through the years, with steel and reinforced-concrete structures almost entirely supplanting them for the past 100 years or so. But designer/builder Dan Moosman has bucked the modern trend, providing his clients with Craftsman-style wooden bridges that now grace landscapes across the country and make strong aesthetic statements wherever they’re placed.

Spanning Space and Time

Bridges have been important to humanity for thousands of years. They've provided avenues of travel between disconnected spaces and have, as a result, been critical to commerce, settlement, warfare, travel and even poetry and literature. To this day, they are iconic in certain cities or regions (think Paris or New York), and there has always been a distinctly romantic air that accompanies their obvious utility. My relationship with bridges in general (and with wooden bridges in particular) began during my childhood near Nebraska's Niobrara River. The big, load-bearing structures crafted to span that river in the late-19th and early-20th centuries absolutely fascinated me. I'd spend hours climbing on those old structures and was amazed by the way they creaked as their tension and compression members supported truly formidable weights. At the same time, I came to value the presence of

Spanning Space and Time

Bridges have been important to humanity for thousands of years. They've provided avenues of travel between disconnected spaces and have, as a result, been critical to commerce, settlement, warfare, travel and even poetry and literature. To this day, they are iconic in certain cities or regions (think Paris or New York), and there has always been a distinctly romantic air that accompanies their obvious utility. My relationship with bridges in general (and with wooden bridges in particular) began during my childhood near Nebraska's Niobrara River. The big, load-bearing structures crafted to span that river in the late-19th and early-20th centuries absolutely fascinated me. I'd spend hours climbing on those old structures and was amazed by the way they creaked as their tension and compression members supported truly formidable weights. At the same time, I came to value the presence of

For many years, watershaper/teacher/provocateur David Tisherman has urged his colleagues to get out and explore the world. Actually seeing architecture, art and ancient ruins in their own contexts, he says, is a sure-fire way to develop a sense of your place in design history and to inspire your own design ideas – a point he drives home by leading us around Asia Minor and discussing what he sees in light of his own work in the here and now.

Classical Influences

It's a point I'll probably make to the end of my days: There is no substitute for travel and exploration of the historic world to learn about design. In my "Details" column in the June 2005 issue of WaterShapes, for example, I discussed my recent trip to Turkey and made the point that the ruins and intact structures we examined while there were full of specific details that I and other watershapers use in our work - whether or not we recognize that what we're doing actually derives from ancient original works. Showing what I mean in the clearest possible terms is what this pictorial article is all about. As you will see, I've included

Whether in the form of a statue, a bowl for a fountain or an architectural detail, carved stone lends a timeless beauty and an intriguing quality to any aquatic setting. But there’s a difference between just using it and using it well, says watershaper Mark Holden, who defines what you should know about the raw materials and their sources and also explores the various challenges, costs and pitfalls that may come along as part of the deal.

Images in Stone

Since the dawn of civilization, it has stood as the single most enduring of all artistic media: From representations of mythological characters and historic events to applications as purely architectural forms and fixtures, carved stone has been with us every step of the way. As modern observers, we treasure this heritage in the pyramids of Egypt and Mesoamerica. We see it in the Parthenon in Athens, in the Roman Colosseum and in India's Taj Mahal - every one of them among humankind's finest uses of carved stone in the creation of monuments and public buildings. As watershapers in particular, we stand in awe before the Trevi Fountain in Rome, the glorious waterworks of the Villa d'Este and the fountains of Versailles, three of history's most prominent examples of carved stone's use in conjunction with water. But you don't need to

No matter the time or place, we’ve always had a special relationship with moving water. From the ancient Egyptians who set their calendars by the seasonal flooding of the Nile to the modern tourists who line up outside Bellagio in Las Vegas to watch its water shows, there’s a fascination that can’t be denied. It’s also, says landscape architect/ pool builder Mark Holden, a past that should be explored by all contemporary watershapers.

Images in Motion

Ever since the hydraulic principles of ancient Persia were 'rediscovered' by Europeans during the Renaissance, the sky has literally been the limit for watershape designers. At the 17th-century Dutch Palace of Het Loo, for example, fountain jets that trace their developmental history at least as far back as 8th-century Persia make an emphatic statement about the power of those who commissioned them. We all marvel, and rightly so, at the waterfeatures of Renaissance Italy, the pools of Versailles in France, the fountains of the

In Search of Balance and Harmony

The words mean "earth luck," and over the last 18 months, at least half of my design-work appointments have been with people who have some concern or interest in the ancient philosophy known as feng shui. In fact, many of these (mostly upscale) customers already own books on the subject and have the expectation that I will factor feng shui principles in as I design their watershapes. By now, most of us have at least heard of this ancient Chinese philosophy, which is often described as "the art of living in perfect balance." If you're like me, it's been one of those things to which you've never paid too much attention in your own life. But as has been the case with other forms of Asian philosophy and spirituality, feng shui (pronounced fung shway) has

From the earliest urban settlements to the most modern architectural settings, watershapes have played both functional and decorative roles in expressing the values of their societies. In the first of a series of articles on the lore of aquatic design, landscape architect and pool designer Mark Holden follows an introductory path that begins in ancient Greece and ends up in modern Las Vegas.

Images in Time

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