WaterShapes
Most people move easily through the world, enjoying the scenery without really thinking about what makes those surroundings visually appealing (or not). Science tells us that the human eye can see about seven million colors and that our minds instinctively perceive depth and dimension. This visual capacity enables most of us to move around without bumping into things, some of us to swing at and somehow hit a golf ball and, in the case of a beautiful garden (we can hope), all of us sense pleasure and maybe a bit of
Elevating the way we do things in this industry means addressing our gaps in knowledge on several levels. First, excellence means understanding the aesthetic side of watershaping - design traditions, art history and the nature of visual appeal. Second (and right in step) is the need to know how to build various types of systems properly. As an industry, in other words, we need to know how to avoid mistakes. In February, Genesis 3 staged a construction school in Orlando - and what follows isn't a commercial; rather it's a point of departure for a discussion long overdue in our industry. What struck me is that
A teacher I respect once told me that there's a fine line between research and plagiarism. He explained that using the ideas of others to construct your own creative expression is perfectly acceptable - desirable, in fact - and a practice that's been part of
The plaza island at Columbus Circle in New York is an example of urban and civic design at its best. Encircling the heart of this grand space is a subtle fountain system that has turned a busy traffic hub into a welcome gathering place for the city’s residents and visitors. Here, principal designer Claire Kahn Tuttle of WET Design in Sun Valley, Calif., describes the project and the philosophy the company brought to bear in bringing it to fruition. Tradition has it that, in measuring the distance a place is from New York, the geographical tape measure is placed at the center of Columbus Circle. This makes it easy to see this southwest corner of Manhattan’s Central Park (and the intersection of Broadway, 59th Street and Eighth Avenue) as the true heart of the city. A massive 70-foot obelisk topped by Gaetano Russo’s statue of Christopher Columbus has stood at the center of the bustling traffic circle since 1892, when it was installed to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the explorer’s arrival in the Americas. The circle itself was part of Frederick Law Olmsted’s
Watershaping has changed dramatically through the past several years, and we all could probably come up with a hundred different reasons why. Here's the upshot: Clients are no longer merely asking us to build pools, spas or other bodies of water. Instead, they're asking us to create complete settings that include water. And when you compare where we are now to where we were, say, seven years ago, it's as though everything is different. What the changes mean is that many of us have been or are being forced to seek out more sophisticated approaches to the design process. I recently finished a book that provides amazing insight into exactly that process: Basic Elements of Landscape Architectural Design by Norman K. Booth (Waveland Press, 1990). The book was recommended to me by fellow landscape architect and watershaper
I want to clear up a misconception: Although the programs my colleagues and I stage through Genesis 3 are easily associated with the "high end" and the work of several people associated with our programs may be said to exist at the cutting edge of watershape design, it is simply untrue that we are promoting construction standards that somehow go above and beyond what the rank-and-file industry should be practicing. When we talk about watershape "design" and "construction," it's important to understand that although those two things go hand in hand, they are completely separate considerations. Design is what makes pools and spas either ordinary or extraordinary and is about materials selection, shape, color, elevations, lighting, water effects and location in a setting - basically a whole range of
With everyone's thoughts turning to spring, it's an opportune time to think about new ways to enhance our garden designs. In addition to considering basic components that lay the groundwork for designs, I'd like to suggest looking for more specific ways to define and personalize our clients' spaces. You might explore gardens made for entertaining, for example, or spaces free of allergy-aggravating plants. One prospect I've been considering lately (and will discuss here in detail) is ways of attracting beneficial insects to my gardens - specifically butterflies. I enjoy watching butterflies float through my backyard, gently land on their favorite flowers and then spread their wings to reveal
When I think about all the people I know from the mainstream pool and spa industry, one of the things that characterizes many of them is a strong, independent spirit. That's a positive, I think, but there's a possible downside in the fact that many of them are also convinced that theirs is the best (or only) way - and they certainly don't cotton to the idea of working closely with people from outside their own organizations. I can appreciate that sort of independent mindset in many ways, but from where I sit, it's clear to me that this concept of the lone-wolf pool builder is losing ground fast. As I've stated in these pages before, the nature of modern watershaping is making ours a more collaborative business, and I for one believe that those of us who embrace the idea of teamwork are
One of the most fascinating aspects of watershaping is the broad array of personalities that define the industry. From my perspective, getting to know those who contribute to these pages is a process of discovery that makes preparing every issue a
Working successfully with hydraulic systems requires two things: Understanding the definitions of the basic factors involved in hydraulic calculations and seeing how those values relate to and influence each other in the real world. The last installment in this series of articles focused on the relationship between flow and velocity with respect to water. The related concept we’ll explore this time takes our understanding of that key relationship a step farther by exploring a specific pair of additional relations summarized by
