western United States

By now, the thought that watershape and landscape designers need to study nature if they want to replicate it in their projects is basically a cliché.  Truly, if you want to mimic nature successfully, you must first know it intimately.   What many miss in all this, I believe, is a deeper level of “knowing” that goes well beyond simply observing nature as a source of techniques and ideas.  Frankly, I think that as designers and as human beings, we are much better off when we also learn how to become nature – by which I mean letting the sights, sounds and smells draw us physically into the place.   In doing so, we engage in experiences so profound that the mere mentioning of that place will set us off with memories we will share enthusiastically – or can use as parts of our latest projects.    No matter how often I visit natural places, I’m always amazed at the