Urbane Expression Urbane Expression - WaterShapes

Inside: David Tisherman on Intellectual Property

D e s i g n • E n g i n e e r i n g • C o n s t r u c t i o n

Volume 8Number 4April 2006$6.00

Plus: An exclusive look at

the reimagined Getty Villa

UrbaneExpression

UrbaneExpression

Continental ClassContinental Class

A watershape befitting a

world-famous traffic circle

A collaboration infusedwith Mediterranean style

Circle 56 on Postage Free Card

4 WATERsHAPES �APRIL 2006

April

The Heart of the CityBy Claire Kahn TuttleDesigning a fountainfor a bustling urban hub

30

contents

features

Continental ClassBy Martha & Randy BeardMediterranean flairin a California setting

40

A Villa for the AgesBy Eric HermanExploring possiblitiesat the Getty’s new home

48

5

In This Issue

Advertiser Index

Of Interest Index

Of Interest

6

8

58

58

62

10

16

24

66

WATERSHAPES (ISSN 1522-6581) is published monthly by McCloskey Communications, Inc. 6119 Lockhurst Dr.,Woodland Hills, CA 91367. A controlled circulation publication, WaterShapes is distributed without charge to qualifiedsubscribers. Non-qualified subscription rates in the U.S., $30 per year; Canada and Mexico $48 per year; all other coun-tries $64 per year, payable in U.S. funds. Single copies $10 per issue in the U.S. and Canada. All other countries $15per issue. Subscription requests must include name, job title, business location, address information and a signatureand date. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to WaterShapes, P.O. Box 1216, Lowell, MA 01853-9930.Periodicals postage rates paid at Woodland Hills, CA 91365 and additional mailing offices.

WATERsHAPES � APRIL 2006

Volume 8 • Number 4 • April 2006

StructuresBy Eric Herman

Walking the fine linesof ‘creative borrowing’

Aqua CultureBy Brian Van Bower

Keys to advancingthe art of watershaping

Natural CompanionsBy Stephanie Rose

Training yourself to seewith designer’s eyes

Detail #62By David Tisherman

Rallying to the defenseof intellectual property

Book NotesBy Mike Farley

Words of wisdomfrom a business guru

24

columns

departments

16

10

On the cover:Photo by Ira Kahn, courtesy WET Design, Sun Valley, Calif.

EditorEric Herman — 714.449-1905

Associate EditorMelissa Anderson Burress— 818.715-9776

Contributing EditorsBrian Van Bower David TishermanStephanie Rose Mike Farley

Art DirectorRick Leddy

Production ManagerRobin Wilzbach — 818.783-3821

Circulation ManagerSimone Sanoian — 818.715-9776

National Sales ManagerCamma Barsily — 310.979-0335

PublisherJames McCloskey — 818.715-9776

Publishing OfficeMcCloskey Communications, Inc.P.O. Box 306Woodland Hills, CA 91365Tel: 818.715-9776 • Fax: 818.715-9059e-mail: [email protected]: www.watershapes.com

© Entire contents copyright 2006. No portion of this publi-cation may be reproduced in any form without written per-mission of the publisher. Views expressed by the bylinedcontributors should not be construed as reflecting the opin-ion of this publication. Publication of product/service infor-mation should not be deemed as a recommendation by thepublisher.

Printed in the U.S.A.

A teacher I respect once told me that there’s a fine line between research andplagiarism. He explained that using the ideas of others to construct your owncreative expression is perfectly acceptable – desirable, in fact – and a practice that’sbeen part of creative and intellectual development since the dawn of time. Bycontrast, he said, copying with an intent to mislead is a form of theft and shouldalways be avoided and condemned.

It boils down to this: In artistic endeavors such as watershaping, borrowingideas creatively is a good thing, but deliberate misappropriation of those sameideas is not.

In this issue, you’ll find pieces that illuminate this important issue from bothsides. First,on page 24,David Tisherman’s latest “Detail”serves up one of his mostconfrontational pieces ever, directly addressing the theft of intellectual property inthe design field. I’ll leave it to him to tell the story in full; suffice it to say here thathe recently found images of several of his projects published on someone else’s website with the clear implication that the work had been done by the web site’s own-er rather than David himself.

There’s an important distinction here – just the fine line my teacher was de-scribing. At WaterShapes, we publish the works of gifted artists because we wantyou to be influenced by those projects and use the magazine as an idea book inworking with concepts and clients. That’s what exchanging ideas is all about: thework of one creative mind fueling the efforts of another. This is a beautiful thingthat enriches our work, our minds and indeed the fabric of our lives.

Perfect examples of this sort of positive influencing can be seen in two of ourfeatures this month. In my own article for this issue (page 48), we cover the re-opening of The Getty Villa in Malibu, Calif. – a museum wholly and completelyinfluenced by the arts of the ancient cultures of Greece and Rome and an exercisein creative borrowing in the truest and most literal sense.

On page 40, you’ll also find a project profile by Martha and Randy Beard de-scribing a residential project that features Mediterranean motifs, rectangular re-flecting ponds, classic statuary and fountains, tile mosaics, painted ceiling frescosand open landscaping that spring directly from those same Greco-Roman roots(with a dash of the Italian Renaissance thrown in for good measure).

In both cases,we see very different examples of turning to the wellsprings of designinfluence in near-perfect ways. What happened to Tisherman is quite another story.

David’s a guy who has devoted himself unconditionally to educating and directlyinfluencing the minds, ideas and design processes pursued by others. He wants thesefolks to understand how good ideas can be used to improve both the quality andintegrity of the work. His generosity,however,gives nobody the right to claim David’s(or anyone else’s) work as his or her own. Doing so is not only a form of theft, butis also a misrepresentation to peers and clients – plain wrong all the way around.

This isn’t so fine a line we walk: It’s the clear difference between wrong and right.The plagiarist is craven, tawdry and wrong. On the righteous side, where you

turn to the work of the masters and allow their genius to inform your own work,you take active part in furthering various cultural and design traditions. This processdignifies, elevates and codifies creativity – a better place to be.

WATERsHAPES �APRIL 20066

By Eric Herman

structures

The Anxiety of Influence


Claire Kahn Tuttle is a principal designer forWET Design of Sun Valley, Calif. She has beenwith the firm since 1985 and through the yearshas worked on some of the firm’s most note-worthy projects. A graduate from StanfordUniversity in 1977 with a degree in graphic de-sign, she was soon hired by the giant architec-tural firm of Skidmore Owings & Merrill, forwhich she served as a designer in the interiorand graphics design division of its SanFrancisco office. Her work with WET Designfocuses on the seamless integration of often-spectacular watershape systems into a range of

institutional, civic and commercial settings.

Randy and Martha Beard own Pure WaterPools, a construction/service firm in CostaMesa, Calif. They met in 1981 while both wereworking behind the scenes in the entertain-ment unit at Knott’s Berry Farm. At the time,Randy also had a small pool-service businessand convinced Martha (Marti) to invest in ex-panding the route. They purchased PureWater Pools from another technician and haveoperated in the Costa Mesa/Newport Beacharea ever since. As the route grew, both

April’s Writersin this issue

Circle 44 on Postage Free Card Circle 103 on Postage Free Card

dropped their other jobs and focused entirelyon the pool business as small repairs led to bigrepairs, big repairs to remodels, and remodelsto new construction. Each year, they’ve seentheir projects become more creative and tech-nically challenging. Today, the firm workswith many of the area’s leading architects andlandscape architects to create a range of cus-tom watershapes for upscale commercial andresidential clients.

Eric Herman is editor of WaterShapes. A ca-reer writer and editor with more than 20 years’

WATERsHAPES �APRIL 2006 9

Interested in writing for WaterShapes on design, engineering or construction topics? Contact Eric Herman at (714) 449-1905!


experience, he has published and edited articlesfor publications across a wide range of indus-tries, technical subjects and cultural interests.A native of southern California, he graduatedfrom California State University at Fullerton in1983 with degrees in Journalism and Englishliterature. In addition to his work in maga-zines, he has published poetry and writtenscreenplays, technical manuals and speechesand is an aspiring novelist. Herman hasworked for McCloskey Communications since1996 and was the founding editor ofWaterShapes in 1999.


levating the way we do things in this industry means addressing ourgaps in knowledge on several levels.

First, excellence means understanding the aesthetic side of watershap-ing – 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 sys-tems properly. As an industry, in other words, we need to know how toavoid mistakes.

In February, Genesis 3 staged a construction school in Orlando – and whatfollows isn’t a commercial; rather it’s a point of departure for a discussion longoverdue in our industry. What struck me is that 60 students came to the schoolfrom all over the country (and beyond), and almost every one of them toldus they came because they saw it as the only venue that offered focused, prac-tical instruction on technical issues related to the construction of concrete ves-sels that contain water.

What disturbs me (and fuels the discussion that follows) is that this sortof basic, fundamental instruction hasn’t been available in all sorts of forumssince the industry first started organizing itself in the 1950s and ’60s.

over timeUnderstanding how to build properly should,

in my opinion, be the baseline requirement forentering the watershape-construction field, butobviously it’s not. Instead, we’ve had a largelyseat-of-the-pants industry where knowledge isobtained by experience and informal instruc-tion from people who may or may not be qual-ified to teach it. This is why mistakes and mis-conceptions are passed on – and sometimes eventaught in seminars.

There really are only two ways to learn aboutthis stuff: Either you learn by trial and error, orsomeone teaches you. I like to think that thesecond of those possibilities is the better path.One of my favorite axioms is,“A smart personlearns from his or her mistakes; a smarter per-son learns from the mistakes of others.”Unfortunately,my own career until recently wasa case study in the former.

A large portion of my knowledge camethrough matriculation in the renowned Schoolof Hard Knocks. (I’m sure you’ve seen it – thereare campuses everywhere.) I actually startedout in the business one summer at a resortwhere my occupation theretofore had been rub-bing suntan lotion on pale bodies. In the courseof my duties, I started taking care of the poolas well. Before long, I started my own pool ser-vice business, then began tackling repairs, thenrenovations, then construction. Now, afterdecades of rough-and-tumble experience, Iwork as a designer.

My own learning curve was slow,hard and fullof mistakes. I’m a reasonably smart guy whopays attention and seeks new information, soI’ve been able to apply experience and developsuccessful businesses. Just the same, I can’t help

By Brian Van Bower

aqua culture

There really are only

two ways to learn about

watershaping: Either you

learn by trial and error, or

someone teaches you.

First Do No Harm

E

wishing there would have been educationavailable to me along the way that wouldhave shortened the process and its pains.As it was, my story is riddled with inci-dents in which I learned the fundamen-tals the hard way.

I “learned”pool service at the hotel, forexample, from a guy who had absolutelyno idea what he was doing. We’d handlebig chlorine-gas tanks in a facility wherethere might be hundreds of people aroundthe pool as we worked. Sure enough,therewere a couple of times we had to evacu-ate the deck because we thought we mighthave released poison gas.

I was a quick study and learned fromthose mistakes. Fortunately,nobody wasever hurt along the way, but the point ofthe story isn’t that we got away with it,butthat we had no business servicing a com-mercial pool at all.

When I started building pools severalyears later, I was put in a position whereI had to learn construction from my sub-contractors. It was certainly an informaland haphazard way of picking up a trade,but looking back, it was the best resourceavailable to me at the time. I made everyeffort to hire only experienced subs whocame recommended by other people andwas lucky enough to keep out of serioustrouble, but there’s no question I wascompletely unqualified at the outset.

floating alongAfter a while, I obtained a license

through the state that enabled me to per-form as a commercial pool contractor.This required me to pass a test, so I tooka class that gave me the information Ineeded – much of it involving generalbusiness information and the ins and outsof getting permits. By no means was thisa course on (or a test about) the rigors ofcommercial construction. There wasnothing on soils, structural engineeringor hydraulics, not by a long shot.

Ultimately,you might say I entered thepool business accidentally – and I havebeen far from alone in having found thatpath if the tales I’ve heard from others areanywhere close to the truth.

When you consider how many of ushave learned construction more or lessby osmosis, it’s a wonder there aren’tmore failures. Yes, some projects do go

south, sometimes in spectacular ways,but given the fact that watershape con-struction is an invasive, multifaceted un-dertaking that involves excavation, form-ing, plumbing, electrical installation andhardscape construction, it’s a wondermore people just don’t blow the wholedeal on a daily basis.

In my case, there were a couple of mi-nor mishaps that propelled my desire todo better, if only as a means of avoidingtrouble. I sort of adopted the phrase fromthe medical profession’s Hippocratic oath,“First do no harm.”

When I had my service company, ourclients included a couple who lived ona golf course in Miami Beach. Their poolneeded refurbishing, so we arranged todrain the pool, chip out the plaster andreinstall a new surface. We began by look-ing for a well point or water-control linethat would let us pump the groundwateraway from the area around the pool – acommon practice in Florida because ofextremely high water tables.

We couldn’t find such a line, so we as-sumed (a risky choice) that, because thepool had been there since before WorldWar II, it had doubtless been drainedseveral times and so it must be safe. Weset up the submersible pump, ran thewater out to the street and drained thepool overnight.

Bad move: The next morning startedwith frantic calls from the clients sayingthey’d heard cracking sounds and loudrumbling from the backyard all night long– not good. I stopped by the property on



aqua culture

There were a couple of minor mishaps that

propelled my desire to dobetter, if only as a meansof avoiding trouble. I sort

of adopted the phrasefrom the medical profes-

sion’s Hippocratic oath,‘First do no harm.’

the way to the office and saw that the poolhad lifted six inches above grade at theshallow end. The pool was only partial-ly drained by that time,so I turned off thepump so things wouldn’t get any worse.

sad sagasWe refilled the pool, which helped it

settle back down by a full four inches,butit was still two inches out of level. At thatpoint, we obtained the pool plans fromthe city archives and saw that the originalplans specified a hydrostatic-relief valvein the main drain. We sent a diver downto check it out and found that the well-rusted valve had been set in place but hadbeen covered over with concrete.

Thinking fast, we drained the pool asfar as we could without it beginning tofloat back up, then drilled a hole in thefloor of the pool at the lowest level wecould reach. Next, we pushed a perfo-rated plumbing line through the hole,hooked up a pump and began drainingwater from underneath and around thepool.

This draining process took a longcouple of days, but when the pump randry, we were able to drain the rest of thewater from the pool and began the refin-ishing process.We were able to get the poolback to within an inch or so of its originallevel and were able to fudge things by re-placing the coping and rebuilding part ofthe patio, mostly at our own expense.

Basically,we got lucky and learned im-portant lessons about what it took to floata pool and then deal with the problemsthat ensued. (Much later, I also learnedfrom a soils engineer that this particulararea had a number of underground rivers– what a planet!) Forevermore, I learnedthat our structures exist in dynamic con-ditions that we can’t see, and I’ve beencautious about soils and doing thingsright ever since.

I’ve built many pools in the MiamiBeach area since then,and it’s no surpriseto me in looking back how many of thosepools have been constructed on pilings.We also made it a habit to install a layerof rock beneath the pool and include runsof perforated piping that can be used aswell points to relieve hydrostatic pressurewhenever a pool might need to be drainedlater on.

The long and short of the story is thatI have since developed relationships withsoils engineers and geologists in the areaand obtain proper soils data on every sin-gle pool site I touch. As essential and fun-damental as that step is (or at least shouldbe),I still run into lots of builders who useoff-the-shelf construction details designedwithout any specific knowledge of pre-

vailing geological or soils conditions.Unfortunately, I fear that a great many

of those practitioners will feel the sting ofa major structural failure before they wiseup and start doing things the right way.

You can, of course, choose to learn en-tirely by doing,but along the way you willinflict needless pain on yourself. The al-ternative is to seek out people who are


13WATERsHAPES � APRIL 2006


willing to share their experiences and helpyou avoid mistakes in the first place.

I, among many others, am a huge be-liever that our industry has needed thatsort of open information exchange fora long time. Sure, we talk about it a lot,but the fact is that those forums for ed-ucation and information exchange bare-ly exist, even today.

the front-runner feeSome people go to great effort to hide

their failures, seeing past problems as life’svery private way of teaching lessons andstrengthening character; others go far-ther, saying that sharing those lessons istantamount to giving aid and comfort tothe competition. Either way, the miserswho keep their experiences to themselvesare misguided.

First of all, nobody’s work history ismistake-free; second, what’s the value ofbeing part of an industry that doesn’t ad-vance the expertise of its members? Theidea that we benefit because of mistakes

made by our competitors is just plaincrazy: It’s more than mere idealism tobelieve that we’re all elevated when thetide of competency rises within the in-dustry as a whole. Why not share whenthe information you have can pull every-one up?

Look at it this way: The painful costsof experience are an investment inknowledge so long as you’re willing tolearn and pass the lessons along. This iswhy I see mistakes as a form of innova-tion and rectifying them as an invest-ment I call “paying the front-runner fee.”Through sharing and education, we allcan reap the benefits of the investmentsof those who have taken it upon them-selves to pay that fee.

What upsets me (and really boggles mymind) are the people out there who crit-icize education programs because theydon’t like the fact that we’re sharing so-called “trade secrets.” Likewise, I’ve beenconfronted by people who are upset thatI tell others in the trade that design con-

sulting is a valid profession. It’s all aboutfear of change, and I can only ask: Whatkind of businessperson is afraid of changewhen the one thing we know for sure isthat change is the only certainty?

The response might be that havingpaid the “fee” themselves and probablyhaving suffered financial and even emo-tional consequences, these folks feel nocompulsion to make life easier for oth-ers following in their footsteps and try-ing to do the same things. I believe thatviewpoint is narrow-minded, and ex-tremely so.

Yes, I’m proud of the work we’ve donewith Genesis 3 in establishing sound ed-ucational programs, but the fact thatwhat we’re doing is out of the norm is adisturbing indication that shortsight-edness is still a debilitating fixture in ourindustry.

rule booksSticking to the status quo is a problem

in any industry, but in our case as wa-

14 WATERsHAPES � APRIL 2006

aqua culture

tershapers it’s particularly horrific becausewe’re working a field that doesn’t have anysort of rule book.

The Uniform Building Code, localhealth department codes and the vari-ous industry-published standards areall rudimentary and aimed simply atavoiding lawsuits. When it comes to in-novations related to plumbing forperimeter-overflow systems, for exam-ple, we’re left on our own to advance ourunderstanding. As a result, when itcomes to any of the more creative ele-ments of watershaping, it’s even moreimportant that ideas be exchanged flu-idly. Either that, or the front-runner feeis going to be paid by a senselessly largenumber of people.

I could write at length about the var-ious fees I’ve paid in pursuit of innova-tion and design creativity, and I’ve beenable through my writing and in class-rooms to share the dividends with oth-ers – and I make no bones of the factthat I feel good about it. There is greatsatisfaction that comes from helpingother people – and indeed from beinghelped in return.

The nice thing about experience isthat each and every one of us can findopportunities to share what we know. Ibelieve that if more people in this in-dustry viewed lessons they’ve learned asan investment that can be of great ben-efit to the industry at large, construc-tion education would become as com-monplace as it should be.

Our clients deserve to work with pro-fessionals who not only know how to selland wow the client, but also can assure

them that the work will be done reliablywith every effort made to prevent costlyand frustrating failures down the line. Wemay be competitors, but we have a com-mon interest in the success and advance-ment of the art of watershaping. Wetherefore owe it to ourselves – and ourclients – to use our experiences for thebenefit of one and all.



WS

Brian Van Bower runs Aquatic Consultants,a design firm based in Miami, Fla., and is aco- founder of the Genesis 3 Design Group;dedicated to top-of-the-line performance inaquatic design and construction, this orga-nization conducts schools for like-minded pooldesigners and builders. He can be reachedat [email protected].


ost people move easily through the world,enjoying the scenery with-out 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 ca-pacity enables most of us to move around without bumping into things, someof us to swing at and somehow hit a golf ball and, in the case of a beautifulgarden (we can hope), all of us sense pleasure and maybe a bit of serenity.

In contrast to these casual observers, we as designers must understand thenature of visual observation in a more sophisticated and deliberate way.

Through the years,clients and friends have asked me how I developed my de-sign skills. I usually start by admitting that I have a great memory for the botan-ical names of plants and how they look and work in gardens and mention thatI have reasonably strong drawing skills, all of which they understand immedi-ately. They also get the fact that, as with any set of skills or form of professionalacumen,years of practice simply make some things start to come naturally.

What hasn’tcome naturally,however,has been my ability to see things in a par-ticular way that enables me to dissect various portions of a visual plane, for ex-ample,or take any number of selections from a large palette of plants or hardscape

elements and assemble them as visually balanceddesigns that appeal both to me and my clients.These skills, I explain, are learned over time andare constantly challenged and honed by lookingat environments through a trained designer’s eyes.

all eyesIn my case, it’s taken years of observation to

develop an “eye” for what works and whatdoesn’t. Through that learning curve, for ex-ample, I’ve become able to see which colors orhardscape materials go together (and those thatdon’t). The trained eye can almost instantly seewhich plants work together in a cogent designscheme and those that disrupt the sense of con-tinuity in a given setting.

To be sure, these subjective determinationsdepend upon an individual’s sense of whatworks and what doesn’t. In some respect, thisis about an intangible quality that can be called“aptitude”or “talent,”but it’s also a distinctionthat makes room for all of us and our idiosyn-cratic, individualized ideas and outlooks on theworld around us.

Separated from talent and a welcome diver-sity of tastes and perspectives, however, is thefact that developing an eye for design and vi-sual detail is something that can be learned.Every one of us can enhance the way we see andperceive our surroundings and can nurture ourobservational prowess as a skill that ultimate-ly will lead to an ability to develop designs com-posed of elements that work together in har-mony. In the world of exterior design, thatmeans looking at the world around us from avariety of perspectives that would be lost to thecasual observers we encountered at the outsetof this article.

Also lost to many observers is the fact thatlandscapes are incredibly dynamic canvases:They constantly change with the time of day andyear, so a garden in summer that is awash with

By Stephanie Rose

natural companions

Every one of us can enhance the way we see and

perceive our surroundings and can nurture our

observational prowess.Powers of Observation

M

color, flowers, insects and other creatureswill settle into dormancy, lose its vibrantcolors and surrender much of its visualappeal during the winter. The followingsummer, that same garden will be differ-ent than it was the year before – perhapsa plant will have died over the winter, ormaybe something was added in the springor grew to change the overall visual planeand our perception of the space.

For their part, most people outside theexterior design professions (including mostof our clients, unfortunately) will tend tosee a garden the same way every year. Asdesigners, we don’t have that luxury of al-lowing ourselves to relax and simply livewith any landscape: Instead,it’s our job toobserve and anticipate changes and respondto them either by incorporating what wesee into our design work or, in the case ofa completed garden,by helping a client tounderstand what they need to do to main-tain the visual balance we originally defined.

The most important thing to under-stand here is that to develop the observa-

tional skills needed to see things in thisdeliberate way, we need to get down tobasics and begin by looking differently atsimple objects.

Take a ball sitting on a flat surface:When you look at it, the ball instantlyseems round. The reason it does is be-cause of the way it interacts with light.How the light hits the ball, in other words,determines the variations in color tonesthat our eyes will perceive in a way that

gives the ball the appearance of beinground and three dimensional.

on the ballLet’s keep looking at that ball for a mo-

ment: Where the color appears darker(that is, where a lesser amount of light isshining on it), the surface of the ball ap-pears to move away from the observer,generating and reinforcing the sense thatit is a round object (Figure 1). The light



natural companions

Figure 1: As you move the light sourcearound the ball, you can easily see howthe angle at which the light strikes theball influences the perception of its shapeand volume and degree to which it castsa shadow.

HOW GOOD DO YOUWANT TO BE?

Genesis 3 is proudly sponsored by Jandy, Pentair, Aquamatic, Pebbletec, Sta-Rite, SonarGuard, Aqua Magazine, AutoPilot/AquaCal, Oceanside Glasstile and WaterShapes.

GENESIS 3 - THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM FOR CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS


Founded by: David Tisherman, Skip Phillips and Brian Van Bower

(615) 907-1274 / Toll Free: (877) 513-5800 / FAX: (615) 907-7338 / www.genesis3.com / [email protected]

Professional Drawing & Presentation SchoolSeptember 25-29, 2006

Scottsdale,Arizona

Genesis 3 co-founder and principal instructor DavidTisherman will lead an intensive, week long, professional-level course designed to show participants what it reallytakes to develop top-flight drawing and presentation skills.

Open to a limited number of applicants, the school willcover rendered flat plans in multiple presentation formats,markers, vegetation, surface materials, water effects, eleva-tions, color prespective rendering and much more.

Developed at the request of pool professionals, landscapearchitects and graduates of Genesis 3’s Level I and Level IIschools, this dynamic program is based on professional-level drawing courses that David Tisherman taught atUCLA for 12 years. Cost (including accommodations, mealsand all drawing materials and media): $6,300.

Applications are now being accepted. Visit our websitefor a complete course overview.

Pool & Watershape Construction School

September 28-30, 2006Scottsdale,Arizona

Program Cost: $1,950

In keeping with our mission of advancing education on aglobal level, we are pleased to offer yet another of ourGenesis 3 Pool & Watershape Construction Schools asthe latest component in our design-certification pro-gram.The school’s curriculum covers plan review, excava-tion, layout, soil and drainage, steel placement, plumbing,utilities, gunite, tile and coping, decks and drainage,remote controls, automation, plaster and start-up – withtop-flight tradespeople, designers and engineers from theindustry as instructors.The school will be held at theRenaissance Orlando Hotel (near the airport). Programcost includes accommodations for three nights, mealsand course materials.

and the angle at which it hits the ball alsodetermine how and where and to whatextent the ball casts its shadow, a detailthat further enhances our sense of its di-mensionality. Finally, in the absence oflight we cannot see the ball at all andtherefore perceive nothing about it.

Go ahead: Take a ball and put it on atable. Now take a flashlight and shine iton the ball, moving the light sourcearound to various points. You’ll see clear-ly how the tones on the surface of the ballchange as you move the light sourcearound – how the shape of the shadowchanges, what happens when you shinethe light down from directly above theball and then what happens when youchange the angle off to one side or stoppointing it directly at the ball.

This small exercise is important to thedevelopment of a designer’s eye: It’s crit-ical to understand the importance of ob-serving objects by surveying not only theobjects themselves,but also the space thatsurrounds them. This surrounding area

is known as the negative space – a zonearound an object that has its own distinctshape that is the inverse of the object towhich it is adjacent.

Figure 2A shows a tree. In Figure 2B,thenegative space has been colored to highlightit. I know this concept is old hat to many ofyou and probably seems overly abstract tothe rest, but this simple observational skillis the key to observing spaces and perceiv-

ing the shapes of the objects they include.This is literally about thinking outside thebox of common observation – and onemore behavior that adds to your develop-ment of design skills. Ultimately,it will helpyou to do your job better.

Now take the ball exercise and moveit outdoors – without the flashlight ifyou’re lucky enough to have a sunny day.Approach any plant in a garden and start



natural companions

Figure 2: The con-cept of ‘negativespace’ is illustrated bythese two views ofthe same tree in alandscape. On theleft is the tree in itsfull setting; to theright is the sametree, with negativespace identified inred.

A B

by observing individual leaves. Noticehow each leaf is different from the restand how the light hits each uniqueshape, each curl, each detail of venation.Notice how each leaf ’s position and an-gle relative to the sun or your artificiallight source is what drives how you per-ceive it. A dark leaf, for instance, mayappear white when seen in the “hotspot” where the light hits it with greatintensity. Conversely, it may appear al-most black when caught up in shadowor placed indirectly in relation to thelight source.

Now look at a shrub – a massed col-lection of leaves – and notice how it in-teracts with the light. Take a step backand notice how the angle of the lightsource determines how you perceive theoverall shape of the plant. In a sense,youcan now think of the plant as a ball, goback to the earlier discussion of light andshadow and understand what’s happen-ing in a garden in a whole new way.

keep lookingWith this exercise under your belt, take

the program to the next level by stand-ing back and looking at the entire gar-den. Do so at different times during theday and see how the changing light pat-terns affect how you see the garden andthe overall composition. Notice in par-ticular how colors change in differentways depending upon the intensity of thelight and the time of day – and how theshadows created by the different featuresof the landscape add depth and dimen-sion to the visual plane.

To continue and valuably reinforce thiseducation, repeat the exact same exerciseat intervals throughout the year: Yourperception of the effects of the angle ofthe sun will expand exponentially, as willyour capacity to perceive the role ofchange and your ability to anticipate whatit means to the impressions taken by theless-trained eyes of your clients.

Be aware, of course, that these exer-cises are steps in a process and that train-ing your eyes to see things in this delib-erate way won’t lead you immediately tochurning out incredible, never-yet-imag-ined designs. Be aware as well, howev-er, that by changing your thought pat-

terns in these perceptual areas you willbegin to incorporate your new observa-tional skills into your everyday life andunderstand how it begins to train youreye as a designer.

For watershapers, these same skills canbe applied to the surface of the water, thestructures that contain it and its imme-diate surroundings. They can guide you

in placing watershapes in landscapes byhelping you see shadows and light in newways and will inform your decisionsabout whether to go with shadow-richcantilevered coping instead of shadow-defeating perimeter-overflow ap-proaches. It really doesn’t matter whattype of design we’re talking about: Theseskills translate to just about everything


WATERsHAPES � APRIL 2006 21

we do or can do.One way I’ve found to hone my ob-

servational skills is to take walks. For aperiod of about ten years, I walked thesame eight-mile route two to three timesa week. Beyond the obvious physicalbenefits, I was actually doing plant anddesign research.

This exercise of walking by the exactsame gardens over and over again whileconstantly looking at details and perceiv-ing these spaces’ evolutions has enabledme to make educated recommendationsto clients about the long-term perfor-mance of specific plants, hardscape de-tails and design elements. Also, I wasmuch more able to serve clients in thegeneral area around my route, leadingthem to places where they might see cer-tain plants and impressing them with thefact that I sounded intelligent about de-tails most people simply overlook.

The idea is to begin focusing your eyeto observe things that you’d normally takefor granted. Clients all want to know thatyou’re a good designer, but more thanthat, they want to see it in practice andfeel confident during the design processthat they’ve made the right choice. Itboosts your credibility to demonstrateyour observational skills in the way youdescribe design elements and how theywill harmonize and balance better in thelandscape; it also helps to be able to showdirectly how these ideas have been put towork in a nearby setting.

Ultimately, it’s part of being a design-er rather than just saying or thinkingyou’re one.

Next: Taking the next step and evaluat-ing how contrasts in colors and design ele-ments will affect a landscape.


WS

Stephanie Rose runs Stephanie RoseLandscape Design in Encino, Calif. A specialistin residential garden design, her projects of-ten include collaboration with custom poolbuilders. Stephanie is also an instructor onlandscape design for the Genesis 3 DesignGroup. If you have a specific question aboutlandscaping (or simply want to exchangeideas), e-mail her at [email protected].

natural companions



lagiarism. Copyright infringement. Theft of intellectual property. Wehear and read about these crimes in the media from time to time and don’t

think they’ll ever affect us. But I can bear witness to the fact that we have peoplein our midst who seem to think that committing these crimes is no big deal.

Setting aside any other criticism I’ve ever lain at the feet of the watershap-ing trades, if there’s one intolerable problem the industry has, it’s that thereare people within it who are apparently willing to steal to get ahead.

I’m not talking about job-site incidents where materials or tools mysteri-ously vanish. That’s a real problem, but even more damaging in my eyes isthe surprisingly common practice that some people have of representing theefforts of others as their own. In a phrase, I’m talking about the misappro-priation of design work.

I know I’m not alone as a victim of this phenomenon. In fact, I personal-ly know of far too many situations in which low-rent operators have repre-sented the work of superior designers and builders as their own – and I wantto use the privilege of this column to make a case for stringing these peopleup by their proverbial thumbs.


shoe sizeObviously,we’re talking about a relatively small

number of people who do some very bad things.The discussion I’m offering here is a cautionarytale for those who would dare sink so low, butmy far more important desire is to inform thosewho might find themselves being victimized bythis unscrupulous practice.

If you’re among those who’ve done this,acceptthe fact that decorum prevents me from ex-pressing my full and utter contempt for you. Ifyour foot fits into that particular shoe, you’relucky to be in business – and your only path tolegitimacy is to stop your unethical behavior rightnow. (It would also be appropriate for you to of-fer an apology and reparations to those fromwhom you’ve stolen, but that’s probably askingtoo much of someone of such weak character.)

If you’re among those who have been hit bythis crime, I want you to understand that youhave more power than you might think to setthings straight and that you do not need to stom-ach such violations with quiet resignation: Thereare legal remedies.

To be sure, every situation is different and it isseldom easy to interpret the legal issues. As a re-sult, the first and most reliable advice I can of-fer is that you seek legal counsel if you think yourcontrol and ownership of your design work hasbeen violated. And do so quickly: Failing to actpromptly can, in some cases, compromise yourclaim to intellectual property rights.

I’m fighting mad about this because I’ve justfallen prey to one of these turkeys. I won’t namenames, but this one case may well be the strawthat breaks the camel’s back for me and drivesme to seek legal restitution.

To this point, I’ve been inclined to laugh theseincidents off, probably because the first time Iran into this problem it was really sort of funny.

By David Tisherman

tisherman: detail 62

All reputable watershapingpractitioners need to

understand the basics of copyright law and their rights

when it comes to their intellectual property.

Crime at the Gate

P

Continued on page 26

It happened about eight years ago, whileI was on site to supervise the construc-tion of one of my projects. A guy walkedonto the site with a camera,walked up tothe first person he saw and announcedthat he was a friend of David Tisherman’sand had been asked to come and takesome photographs for him.

Unfortunately for this particular pre-varicator, I was the person he approachedthat morning. I had never seen this muttbefore in my life, and I knew I hadn’tasked anyone to take pictures on my be-half. I was left speechless for a few mo-ments before informing him that he wasspeaking to his “mark.” Let’s just say I dis-patched him with a clear and immediatesuggestion that he remove his personfrom the property lest he wanted to facecharges of trespassing.

highway robberyI’m not sure exactly what was going on

with that situation,and I’ve always foundits ironies to be amusing. But the more

recent incident referred to just above isfar more serious and I’m far less inclinedto be easygoing this time around.

Here are the facts: A pool builder whooperates in my east-coast market area re-cently posted several photos of my workon his website, claiming by implication ifnot in fact that they were all his projects.In no cases were these projects in whichmultiple players had roles and anyonemight therefore make an exaggeratedclaim of credit. (That’s a form of ethicaldistortion I might be able to tolerate inan isolated incident,but not in this case.)

In my work,as any long-time reader ofthese columns knows well, I build every-thing I design,and this joker had nothingat all to do with any of the projects he wasclaiming as his own. Furthermore, hiswebsite claimed that I personally men-tored him for a period of years, eventhough I’ve never worked directly withhim on any sort of professional level.What truly galls me is that some of theimages he “borrowed” were projects in

California,a continent away from his ownmeager work.

The fact that someone would so pub-licly engage in such a bald-faced set of liesis genuinely astonishing. At this writing,the offending website is up and running,but I am confident that by the time thesewords make it to print that the situationwill have changed. Somewhere in the in-terval, in other words, he will doubtlessbecome intimately acquainted with myattorney.

An incident like this brings up severalpoints that go well beyond the particu-lars of my own situation. First of all,everyone needs to recognize that, in thisday and age, it’s relatively easy to misap-propriate intellectual property. Betweenthe Internet, digital photography, graph-ic-design software, e-mail, cell-phonecameras and other modern gizmos, ac-cess to information and images is easyenough that it’s simple to perpetrate falseclaims of all sorts.

Second and more important, all rep-





utable watershaping practitioners needto understand the basics of copyright lawand their rights when it comes to their in-tellectual property.

It’s well established that copyright pro-tection indeed extends to people who de-sign things. Again, the laws are complexand each situation is different,but as a ruleyou can safely assume that if you create anoriginal design,you own the copyright onthat design. Among other things, thismeans that other people cannot rightful-ly lay claim to your work.

People who cross that line are not onlyunethical, but they’re also violating thetrust of their clients,violating your rights,tainting your reputation and perhaps (inextreme cases) exposing you to legal ac-tion. Ultimately,these clowns also degradethe reputation of the industry as a whole– plain bad actors all the way around.

clear airThe bad actions of outright thieves are

symptomatic, I think, of a more general

problem that nibbles at the edges of thedignity of the watershaping industry. Forwant of a better term, we might call it a“fog of dishonesty,” a vapor that carriesan odor with it that taints our business-es in all sorts of milder ways.

For many years, for example, it hasstruck me that many people in this in-dustry do not give proper credit to thosewho have influenced them in their work.To be sure, this is a subtle form of dis-honesty and might reflect a general lackof sophistication more than it does anysort of criminal intent.

It’s my observation that reputable,credible design professionals fully cred-it the work of other people who have in-fluenced their own efforts. In our in-dustry, by contrast, we have players whoopenly, willingly, eagerly take credit forinnovations they didn’t create for the sakeof self-promotion.

This is very different from the worldsof architecture, landscape architectureand the fine arts, where designers, artists

and craftspeople routinely detail the pedi-grees of their work. Just think of the le-gions of architects who cite Frank LloydWright as their spiritual mentor, for ex-ample, or who avow their dedication tothe principles of Walter Gropius, JohnLautner or Ricardo Legorreta.

I acknowledge that failing to cite designinfluences is not dishonesty on the samelevel as representing work you didn’t doas your own, but in very real ways it’s onthe same continuum of moral and ethi-cal compromises – and is, I would argue,something that we easily can and shouldchange.

Look at it this way: When I create a de-sign that is influenced by an architect anddesigner as brilliant as Luis Barragan, thisis something I want my clients and oth-er people to know because it’s part of thebeauty, interest and appeal of the project.Clients are often turned on by the thoughtthat their watershapes are part of a full-fledged design tradition. And later on,when they see a Barragan design in print


or in person, they’ll be even more appre-ciative of the genius who influenced theirown projects.

The great designers who influence usdeserve both credit and respect for ideasthat live on through their work and theworks of others. For me, it’s not so mucha matter of feeling an obligation to beforthcoming with such information(which I do); rather, it’s really all aboutthe excitement of consciously interpret-ing the works of a John Lautner, FredBriggs,Ed Niles,Frank Lloyd Wright – orthe architect of Hadrian’s Palace, whoshowed me the value of raising the bondbeams of watershapes.

This appropriate sort of attributionnever detracts from the appeal of mywork; instead, it elevates and dignifies it.It also confers credit upon me by way ofassociation – the irony here being thattruthfulness about design influence al-lows you to achieve the sort of credibili-ty the thieving pretender is trying to steal.

jokes by designOne difficulty in combating plagiarism

and theft of intellectual property in thewatershaping trades has to do with the

fact that the designer’s work is not recog-nized in our industry the same way it isin others.

This is particularly true in the pool/spaindustry, where “design” was somethingsalespeople did to sell projects and onlyin recent years has there been any dis-cussion of what we do as potentially be-ing works of art. This leads us directly toongoing discussions about design edu-cation within the industry, but for nowlet’s stay directly on the topic of honestyand credibility.

The pool industry’s lack of respect forthe role of design shines through withbrilliant clarity in the structure of the “de-sign” awards programs that have prolif-erated through the years.

I perceive this as another haze of dis-honesty that should burn everyone’s eyes.I personally know of a situation in whicha subcontractor who installed the plumb-ing on a project and had something to dowith a portion of the structure submit-ted photos of the finished work to anawards program with the implicit claimthat he’d been the designer.

The subcontractor violated no contestrules, so what’s the problem? In fact,most

award programs in our industry requireonly a fee, a photograph and a brief pro-ject description – that’s it. In this setting,the word “design”is mere window dress-ing anyway. No proof is even requiredthat the client was happy with the job, thatit was built properly or that it is still evenfunctional.

What’s wrong with this picture is thata builder or even a subcontractor can takesomeone else’s design, screw it up com-pletely in the construction process, alien-ate the client – and then take a nice pho-to and win an award. This is credible?

I accept the fact that design awards areall about marketing, and far be it fromme to suggest that people shouldn’t pro-mote their achievements, but let’s at leastbe honest about this. How hard wouldit be to require, as a part of a design-award submissions, signed statementsfrom clients declaring that they’re satis-fied with the projects? How about ask-ing for before, during and after photosof construction, a set of plans and asigned statement indicating who deservescredit for the design?

None of that seems like too much toask. And without that sort of credibili-



These are among the projectsof mine lifted and used insomeone else’s website. Theyinclude work previously pub-lished as being mine inWaterShapes and elsewhere— and a California projectwith which the perpetratorhad absolutely no possibleconnection on any level.


in that the designer is the one who ischarged with using his or her backgroundto create a set of plans that fuses the de-sires of the clients, the budget’s extent andthe requirements of the site in a way thatis creative and appealing.

Those who execute the plans may wellfeel pride and take credit for their rolein a project, but they are not its design-ers. They nonetheless deserve whatev-er credit is due, which is why I’m alwayseager to mention the subcontractors,craftspeople and suppliers who play keyroles in my projects. Good work shouldalways be recognized and rewarded inthis way. Likewise, if my design stemsdirectly from the work of an architector landscape architect, it’s my opinionthat I am morally, ethically, profession-ally and legally obliged to place creditwhere it’s due.

Those of us who design watershapes,landscapes, buildings, automobiles, fur-niture, kitchens, clothing and countlessother things are in the business of bring-

ing both utility and beauty to people’slives. We have the privilege of being inthe business of making people happy –to me a sacred trust that should not beabused by the lies of smaller minds.

I was taught that to reach high places,you have to follow a high road. If you as-pire to be a great designer, lying aboutit along the way is no shortcut to achiev-ing professional stature. Not only is itwrong and foolish, but it’s also ultimate-ly bad for business.

ty, isn’t using these awards for marketingpurposes the moral equivalent of pullingthe wool over a client’s eyes?

Again,one might argue that what goeson with the loose rules of design awardsis a far cry from deliberate misrepresen-tation. For me, however, it’s all prettymuch on the same continuum. Althoughit seems less harmful than other forms ofdishonesty, it’s still a compromise thatsaps the dignity and credibility of thepool/spa industry.

the glowOne of the joys of working as a de-

signer is that you have a sense of creat-ing something that has never been seenbefore. Yes, there’s a satisfaction of egothat’s involved, even a vanity that comeswith working as a designer or artist. Butfar beyond ego or vanity is an evengreater sense of satisfaction that comesfrom putting part of yourself into thework you do for other people.

Design is different from construction


David Tisherman is the principal in twodesign/construction firms: David Tisherman’sVisuals of Manhattan Beach, Calif., andLiquid Design of Cherry Hill, N.J. He is alsoco-founder and principal instructor forGenesis 3, A Design Group, which offers ed-ucation aimed at top-of-the-line performancein aquatic design and construction. He canbe reached at [email protected]

WS

TheHeartof theCity


31

Traditionhas it that, in measuringthe distance a place is from New York, thegeographical tape measure is placed at thecenter of Columbus Circle. This makesit easy to see this southwest corner ofManhattan’s Central Park (and the inter-section of Broadway,59th Street and EighthAvenue) as the true heart of the city.

A massive 70-foot obelisk topped byGaetano Russo’s statue of ChristopherColumbus has stood at the center of thebustling traffic circle since 1892, when itwas installed to celebrate the 400th an-niversary of the explorer’s arrival in theAmericas. The circle itself was part ofFrederick Law Olmsted’s original visionfor Central Park (which included a ma-jor plaza at the Eighth Avenue entrance)and has long been seen as both a land-mark and a critical traffic hub.

As is true of many New York neigh-borhoods, the area around the circle hasseen both good times and bad. Recentyears have been good, with new com-mercial development bringing renewedvitality to the area surrounding this high-ly visible confluence of pedestrian andautomotive traffic. Despite its pivotal lo-cation, however, the circle has for yearsrepresented a hazardous goal for pedes-trians facing a risk of life and limb to reachthe circle’s central plaza.

The Measure of a PlaceAll that changed in the fall of 2005,

when work was completed on a new cir-cle island reinvented as a place of reposeand relaxation for the walking public.Designed and managed by the OlinPartnership, it represents the objectivesfor the project established by companyfounder Laurie Olin.

For our part at WET Design (SunValley,Calif.),we designed and supervisedthe installation of the fountain systemthat’s an integral component of the new

The plaza island at Columbus Circle in New York is an ex-ample of urban and civic design at its best. Encircling the heartof this grand space is a subtle fountain system that has turneda busy traffic hub into a welcome gathering place for the city’sresidents and visitors. Here, principal fountain designer ClaireKahn Tuttle of WET Design in Sun Valley, Calif., describes theproject and the philosophy the company brought to bear inbringing it to fruition.

By Claire Kahn Tuttle


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Columbus Circle. In a great many respects, this foun-tain is a case study in the role water can play in dense-ly urban settings.

When designers consider water as an element inthese contexts, they tend to look at it in one of twoways: Either as an element that exists separately fromits surroundings,or as an interwoven part of the set-ting that draws its design cues and personality fromthe environment while directly responding to theneeds of the given space.

It’s the latter possibility I was interested in for theColumbus Circle project – that is, creating a water-feature that is distinctive and dramatic but also clear-ly reflective of the interests of the clients, the needsof people moving through the environment and theaesthetics and spirit of a unique setting.

Designing water for any environment comes downto understanding the program. When applied in athoughtful design that’s mindful of the program,wa-ter becomes an intrinsic element to the entire experi-ence of being in a place. It fills a void, and the pro-ject at Columbus Circle was all about that notion.

As mentioned above,the vision for the project cameentirely from Laurie Olin, whose stated goal was to


Cars have long dominated the scene at Columbus Circle and have made it into one ofthe world’s busiest intersections. The newly designed island surrounding its famousobelisk and statue is likely to make it one of the city’s great pedestrian magnets aswell – a calm space amid a bustling urban landscape.


The Fabric of Experience

Since 1985, WET Design has been dedicated to using inventivetechnology in the context of important design missions.

The Bellagio in Las Vegas, for example, is about as well-known awaterfeature as you can find anywhere, but for all of its sensationalaesthetics, what’s so exciting about the design is the way it opensits arms to everybody on Las Vegas Boulevard, drawing people to itsbroad promenades, shade trees and places to rest. The animatedwater rewards anyone who comes there, in other words, no matterwhether they plan to patronize the hotel and its casinos or just hap-pen to be walking down the street.

If there’s a thread that runs through almost all of the work thatWET Design does – monumental, theatrical, small scale, grandiose– it’s about an ambiguity between where the water stops and thesurrounding area begins. Regardless of the design mission, it is ourbelief that water is at its most effective when it’s woven into thefabric of the setting. In that sense, everything we do is “interac-tive” with the environment and the people in it – and it has little todo with whether or not you can physically touch the water.

Using Bellagio as an example once again, that system is as theatri-cal and spectacular as modern technology will allow, but you can’tcome anywhere near to touching the water – and I can’t think of adesign that is either more interactive or more intrinsically part of its set-ting. Las Vegas is all about show, and the “wow factor” in this casemakes the hotel stand out amid the frenzy of the surrounding streetsand hotels.

You couldn’t take that kind of theatricality and transplant it to asetting such as Columbus Circle and expect it to work. In such a set-

ting, a Bellagio-type effect would overpower its context and becomea focal point instead of simply existing as part of the atmosphere.Such a disruption would be absolutely unacceptable.

This is why understanding the social or public context of a site isso important. In any public setting, you have to consider the ex-periences of the people moving through it: In Las Vegas, peopleexpect to be constantly impressed and at a very high level; in NewYork, the need for a calming oasis in a busy world drove us tosubtlety and understatement in our work.

We at WET Design certainly did not invent the idea of design-ing watershapes that are carefully integrated into their environments.Indeed, that’s been going on for many centuries. We are, howev-er, extremely proud of the work we’ve done in forging unities be-tween technological innovation and the needs of a wide range ofsettings. To me, all the inventiveness one could imagine isn’t worthmuch if it doesn’t align well with a given setting.

For a project such as the island at Columbus Circle, we turned torelatively subtle water effects to enrich the setting. The computercontrol system is certainly advanced by any modern standards andaffords us wonderful flexibility in designing and adjusting the watereffects, but it’s the level of aesthetic integration that makes this andsimilar projects so successful.

The idea is not to have people show up and take note of the spec-tacular water, but instead it is to encourage them to linger in the settingand come away feeling that they’ve enjoyed being there, perhaps evenunaware that a key part of the whole experience was the water.

– C.K.T.

Photo by Jim Doyle, courtesy WET Design

“enliven and invigorate” this popular location. The design ac-cordingly focused on reinventing the location with beautiful ma-terials, landscaping and water.

As a consequence, the Columbus Circle plaza has become a re-newed public area that exists purely for the enjoyment of peopleworking and moving around it. This basic concept is elevatedand enriched by the further sense that these pedestrians mighteither be coming from or heading into Olmsted’s magnificentCentral Park.

Enriching the EnvironmentUnlike redevelopments that focus on drawing people to a space

for purely commercial reasons, this project was conceived en-tirely as a pedestrian mecca: You don’t have to be in the processof spending money to go there. The program in this case turnson the idea of creating a space that is atmospheric rather thannarrative. With no themed elements on any level, anyone canjust go there and enjoy the water, the beautiful materials, the treesand surrounding views of the park and nearby buildings.


By day, twilight or evening, the concentric terraces that drop the core of theisland several steps below street level offer New York’s residents and visitorsa gathering place that is surprisingly well isolated from direct traffic noise.The cars, taxis and buses can still be heard, of course, but the sounds ofsplashing dominate down here.

In other words, Columbus Circle is itsown reward, a place for people to enjoythemselves and the urban landscape.The space responds to that landscapeand becomes part of it, creating a des-tination that has fully assumed its roleas the city’s heart.

With the water itself, our goal was toaccentuate and enhance the space,addingto the comfort and ambiance rather thanusing water to create any sort of overtspectacle. Our design is essentially onering in the circle, just a part of its collect-ed environment, with water encompass-ing a 150-foot-diameter loop around theobelisk and statue at the center. A seriesof low terraces and plantings create anouter barrier, thereby creating a sense ofseclusion within the loop.

The outer ring of the island consists ofraised cobble that offers pedestrians ini-tial refuge from the traffic beyond. A sec-ond ring of low,flowering plants and ever-green shrubs introduces an element ofgreenery that transitions to a ring of trees

(evergreens and yellow American buck-eye) used to frame views of the monu-ment. In the very center are elegantwooden benches.

Everything is symmetrical, with threebroad pathways at 120-degree intervalsproviding access to the inner spaces.Inside, the terraces descend back tograde, creating a concave area. It is onthese internal terraces that we placed thewaterfeature.

The existing circle had a small foun-tain that encircled the central tower. Thatwas removed, so now pedestrians canwalk right up to the center of the circle.The water has been pushed back to theterrace structure that rings the core area– a spacious “room” created by the ar-chitecture of the island. Between thepathways are three identical water ele-ments descending over three broad ter-races. When you’re within the circle, thewater essentially surrounds you on allsides, adding to the sense of relaxationand escape.

Clarity of PurposeUnlike many of the projects we tackle,

this one didn’t involve exploration of arange of design options. We knew weneeded to develop a system in which wa-ter would inevitably be part of the terracesystem – a fact that led us to some obvi-ous and straightforward solutions. Duringthe design phase, members of our teamvisited the Olin offices over in Philadelphiaand enjoyed their collaboration withLaurie Olin and his team.

The resulting configuration of the wa-terfeatures is relatively simple: There arethree identical basins covering three ter-raced levels, each stretching to 60 feet inlength and 25 feet in width. Water flowsfrom a concealed weir on the top level,over the terraces and down to the plazalevel, where it’s collected in a concealedslot. The sheet of water is very thin – justan eighth of an inch or so – but it lendsa beautiful reflective quality to the gran-ite hardscape.

The two upper terraces in each section


contain arcing jets that send inch-and-a-half streams of water toward the center atvariable heights and distances. Each sec-tion includes 33 jets set at staggered in-tervals, with 99 total jets in the system.The streams are not smooth or laminar;instead, they have a more ragged flow anda rougher texture.

The water is collected in a sub-gradetrough located beneath the adjustabledeck surface. The raised deck accom-modates the troughs, plumbing andelectrical conduits while concealingeverything from view, and the equip-ment vault is buried beneath the north-

east side of the circle. Nobody who vis-its the island has any visual sense of themechanisms powering the fountain sys-tem: The water emerges into the spaceand simply disappears.

The system is programmable and canachieve a variety of combinations of be-haviors and sequences. The water’s mo-tion isn’t meant to provide any kind ofspectacle or discernible dance; rather, itis designed to add interest simply by theway the water is introduced to the envi-ronment. The resulting transitions aresubtle, the idea being that someone whospends a few minutes there will perceive

shifts in the “shape”of the water that dif-fer from what they might have observedwhen they arrived.

Welcome InvitationsThere are no barriers between the wa-

ter and the dry hardscape,so even thoughthis is not an “interactive” system per se,we do expect children and others to playin it during the warm months. Visitorsare free to stand as close to the water asthey like, just touching it or getting com-pletely soaked, if that’s what they want.

When the fountain isn’t operational –during the winter, for example,when the


water system is shut down for the dura-tion – the dry terraces are perfect for seat-ing. That was one of our goals: When thesystem’s not running, the casual visitorshould have no idea that he or she is sit-ting in a fountain. There’s no questionthat this is a subtle watershape.

Experience has shown us that in situ-ations such as this, where the place de-fines its own mood and magic, waterdoes not need to be aggressive or spec-tacular to be effective. The idea here, onthis island amid the city’s tumult, is tofoster tranquility and relaxation. Yes, weexpect the water still to be engaging (and

even exciting when children come to playin it), but it’s an ambient feature thatworks as one of the island’s concentriclayers – all a part of the setting as op-posed to a display that declares its pres-ence the moment you see it.

The water system itself is quite com-plicated. In fact,with designs such as thisone that are basically unadorned, it’s crit-ical that the water be proportioned andspaced correctly relative to the space.Because it’s not clad in layers of decora-tion or ornamentation, the water effectsmust get their spatial relationships justright – a design issue that required a great

amount of careful consideration and ad-justment during the project’s initial stages.

Ultimately, Columbus Circle’s plaza isa layered combination of plants, hard-scape and water that conspire to createa surprising sense of tranquility and ofseparation from the traffic constantlyspinning around the island. We knew,of course, that the sound of the waterwould play a major role in masking traf-fic noise, but it wasn’t until we were onsite and starting the system that we heardjust how effectively that masking hadbeen accomplished.

Flat out, this is one of the busiest in-


The 99 fountain jets issue from the dark steps with a ragged flow and a rough texture and have aspecial beauty all their own. The water’s motion isn’t meant to provide any kind of spectacle ordiscernible dance and has been set up instead simply to add water to the environment in a visu-ally interesting way.

tersections in the world,but when you’re insidethe circle, you really don’t have the sense of be-ing in the middle of a major traffic hub. Yes,you can hear the cars,buses and taxis if you lis-ten for them, but the sound of the water, thetranquility of the greenery and the unique per-spective on the corridors of buildings march-ing away from Columbus Circle take you awayfrom the street and into a setting that has itsown character and ambiance.

A Place for PeopleWhen we were programming the fountain

choreography, I had an opportunity to spendseveral days on site and saw at first hand justhow well the entire design scheme works. Fromthe time the space opened to the public, it’s beenpacked with people, and I had the immediatesense that the residents who live and/or workin the area had taken ownership of the space.

(True to the spirit of New York, a number ofpeople came up to me to offer suggestions aboutthe way the water ought to behave.)

The discussions and work that go into a pro-ject of this kind can be filled with nuance, butthe results are often at their best when they arecompletely straightforward. This is now a placethat provides enjoyment for people who stopby: While achieving that reality may have beencomplex, the result is as simple as the smileon a child’s face.


If there’s a special magic at work on this island at theheart of the city, it’s tied up in the way one of the world’sbusiest places has been given a calm center – a placeto relax, recuperate, play and, in true New York fash-ion, a place to watch other people relaxing, recuperat-ing or playing.


Continental Class


When we first began collaborating on projects with top-flight architects,landscape architects and landscape designers several years ago, for the mostpart our role in terms of design was fairly limited: We’d receive requestsfor bids and proposals based on plans of varying detail, and our role wasthat of faithful installers of the design. On occasions, of course, we’dalso refer our own prospective clients to those same designers,who wouldgenerate plans that we would in turn estimate and very often install.

We still work that way, but as we’ve built our ties to these accomplishedartists, we’ve become aware that our role in their projects has been grow-ing,even to the point where we are now being asked in many situations tooffer our own design ideas. We’re also seeing that, when on-site decisionsmust be made, these designers are allowing us and our top subcontrac-tors to play key roles in the discussions.

Based on the trust that grows from past successes, we’re gradually be-coming part of these design teams – and it all makes sense. This has hap-pened, we think, because we work so often on projects in which the scopeof the work expands beyond the confines of the original design. As a re-sult,we’re being asked more and more frequently to make suggestions,of-fer solutions, participate in decision-making and invent ways to accom-modate new ideas on the fly.

What we’ve experienced is a logical progression beyond what was orig-inally our limited role as design-savvy builders: Through experience,we’veadvanced to a point where we are often full participants in the designprocess and find ourselves enjoying the exploration of an ever-expandingrealm of design for exterior residential spaces.

Mediterranean FlavorsA case in point is the project seen on these pages: Situated above the

Shady Canyon golf course in Orange County, Calif., with views of rollinghills to one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other, the project was ideal

Teamwork is about different things on differentprojects, say Martha and Randy Beard. Ascontractors specializing in the constructionof watershapes conceived by top-flight archi-tects, landscape architects and designers, theysometimes simply follow a plan. In the projectcovered here, however, their involvement wasmuch broader – and reflects their increasingability to step up and participate as valuedmembers of the design team.

By Martha & Randy Beard

for the Mediterranean sensibility that fired theclients’ imaginations.

When we became involved, they already had apreliminary design in hand, but it was clear fromthe start that the homeowners viewed that plan asa point of departure that would lead to somethingmore elaborate as we all moved forward.

The landscape architect was Greg Grisamore,a gifted designer with offices in Newport Beachand Malibu, Calif. The clients wanted their ownslice of southern European style, and Grisamore’sdesign encompassed this atmosphere with asubtle flair – a yard rich with soft contours, fea-tures and colors, classic architectural touchesand expressive hardscape and plantings. Ourrole was defined by the outdoor spa, large re-flecting pond, front- and backyard fountains andindoor pool/spa combination he’d included inthe basic plan.

It was a complex project from the start,but be-cause of the clients’ stated intention to reinventand expand the program as we moved forward,everyone involved had to be flexible and able toaccommodate major changes.

One of the key players on the project team wasgeneral contractor Gary McLane, owner ofMcLane Builders in Coto De Caza, Calif. An un-pretentious, hands-on manager who could befound on site every day, he worked closely withour firm and the homeowners to develop eachbody of water with the intricate care required tocreate the auras desired for each area of the yardand the overall environment.

At the heart of the exterior design is the 41-by-10-foot reflecting pond, which Grisamore de-signed to include a vanishing edge flowing froma large upper basin level and a raised area of thebackyard in soft transition to a small body of wa-ter at the same lower level as the expansive sideyard. It was a straightforward design and wouldhave been relatively easy to execute had it not beenfor a last-minute change in finish material.

The material originally specified was a thin,extremely light-colored stone. With the supportof Grisamore and McLane, however, Matt Myerof Young Ideas Masonry (San Clemente, Calif.)suggested that a thicker, heavier stone copingwould be a better match for the surroundinghardscape he was installing. The idea had ob-vious merit, and after a round of discussions, theclients decided to make the change.

Starting AnewIt was definitely the right call, but the change

meant significantly altering the pond’s concretestructure to accommodate the thicker material –


The multiple water-shapes and their vari-ous needs led to anenormously compli-cated equipmentpad and a flotilla ofcontrol panels. Wemade our lives easierby carefully markingeach pipe and dis-tributing them as theyapproached thepads in a way thatmade installingequipment and con-trollers a (relatively)easy process later on.


The grand reflecting pond and its surrounding landscaping and hardscapego a long way toward building the Mediterranean feel of the backyard.The vanishing edge mediates between the two levels of the yard, whilethe water and plants work together to soften the impression made by largeexpanses of decking.

most critically with the vanishing-edgedetail. And the way it worked out, theseissues weren’t completely settled until theday of the gunite shoot.

We worked closely with the gunitecompany, D.J. Gunite (HuntingtonBeach, Calif.) – a team that often playsan important part in our design/buildcreations. In this case, we needed tothink through what the change meantwith respect to the ultimate visual effectto be created by the weight and textureof the new stone. Then we had to de-termine how the change would influ-ence the shell’s final dimensions, whichhad us tweaking the forms almost to themoment when the shoot began.

We passed through a similar on-sitedecision-making process when it cameto the finish we applied to the pond’sinterior. The first choice had been a softbrown color that matched the ham-mered-edge stone coping and stone flat-work, but this first attempt resulted in anunappealing, washed-out look.

We removed that finish and convincedthe owners to try a deep,dark-green peb-ble material supplied by Gemstone PoolSurfaces (Lakeside,Calif.). It worked likea charm,and the effect of the water flow-

ing from the shallow green basin over thehammered-stone edge and into thetrough is truly sublime.

A variety of water lilies now float on thewater’s surface to define the living garden– a selection of plants carefully chosen byMark Chamley of Chamley Landscape inNewport Beach, who also selected andplaced plants on the rest of the site.

In contrast to the strong visual appealof the reflecting pond, the side-yard spais all about privacy and romance. Set ina spot hidden from the rest of the spa-cious yard, the location is intimate butalso boasts breathtaking views of the cityof Irvine, with majestic Mt. Saddlebackrising in the distance.

The spa has an all-tile finish with a neatwaterline detail supplied by RuggeriMarble & Granite (Wilmington, Calif.).The homeowners had seen the same sortof hand-chiseled mosaic on their varioustravels, but in a different color. Here, welit on a soft brown to blend the spa intothe dusty hills that surrounded it.

The spa shell was initially excavated andsteeled to be flush with the deck – butonce again, the design changed in processwhen McLane recognized that, given thestature of the owners, the spa seats would

be too deep. He directed us to rework thestructure and raise the spa 18 inches abovedeck level just before gunite was to be ap-plied. Raising the spa enabled us to ele-vate the interior seats while also givingthe clients a comfortable out-of-the-wa-ter seating area that lets them take in thegloriously unobstructed views.

Interior SunshineEqually romantic and even more pri-

vate, the indoor pool was another pro-ject element that went through an in-teresting array of changes as the workproceeded.

It had originally been seen as the cen-terpiece in a separate pool house withvaulted ceilings, but no allowance hadbeen made for the dehumidification sys-tem that would have to be part of the fi-nal installation. Once McLane figuredout where all the ducting needed to go(that is, in the ceiling rather than underthe slab) he called in the home’s design-er, Tony Ashai of Torrance, Calif., to re-design the structure with attic space forplumbing and ductwork. The result is aroom that now features an arched,paint-ed ceiling.

In the early going, McLane and the


clients all kept pushing for the pool to bebigger and bigger until ultimately it nolonger fit the footprint of the enclosingstructure. So we went back to the draw-ing board to consider some alternatives.This led us to suggest that a perimeter-overflow treatment would make the poolseem larger without really consumingmore of the space. In addition,such a de-sign would turn the vessel into a brilliantreflecting pool when it was not in use – agreat idea with all the windows and the

trompe-l’oeil ceiling.We showed the homeowners various

photographs of perimeter-overflow poolswe’d done, and they enthusiastically en-dorsed the idea. Luckily for all of us, thisdecision was made before gunite had beenapplied and while there was still time toinstall the plumbing and 90 feet oftroughs that now flow to a six-foot-squaresurge tank.

From the start, the owners had said theywanted the pool to have a mosaic-tile fin-

ish. Because it was to be indoors, thehomeowners were directly involved andretained Mark Lowry (Ann Sacks, LosAngeles), who designed both the pool’sinterior as well as the tiled walls of thepool house.

Lowry worked closely with the clients todevelop the elaborate sunburst mosaic thatresulted. Another project detail inspired bythe clients’ travels, the tile work was pat-terned on the look of a European spa they’dvisited. But once again, the color scheme

The project is filled with specialdetails and spaces, several ofthem having to do with carefulplacement of water in the envi-ronment, but others all aboutcapturing the modern essenceof Mediterranean-style outdoorliving with a vine-covered arborand a spacious, colonnaded ex-terior kitchen.


was reworked to include a vivid combination of aqua,blue,gold and orange tile.The result is a dramatic sunburst that emanates from the center of the

pool’s floor and flows up the walls in blue waves. The one-by-one inch glasstiles (supplied by Ann Sacks) had to be carefully worked up the walls, overthe seats and around the steps in overlapping, free-flowing patterns thatrequired numerous cuts and painstaking fitting.

Finishing TouchesInstallation of the glass tile required months of effort by Pure Water Pools’

in-house masons. They waterproofed the shell and floated the surface, theninstalled the intricate mosaic in precise alignment with the designer’s pat-tern. To say the work was meticulous would be a serious understatement.

Ann Sacks also developed the tile pattern for the walls of the pool house.It, too, was based on the clients’ favorite European spa, but once again thecolors were altered to emphasize the blues and aqua.

While all this was happening inside, we also installed two small fountainsoutside. Out front, the entry fountain is a small, all-tile basin topped by an


The tile finish for the indoor pool is amongthe most complex we’ve ever seen,with Ann Sacks’ design featuring pat-terns in blue flowing away from a vivid-ly colored sun that fills the bottom of thepool. Those blue swirls and eddies climbup the walls and flow over the bench-es and steps with amazing detail andvisual energy.

Tile installation in thepool was a lengthy,difficult process – andthat was true eventhough the complextile patterns arrived inmarked sheets withmost of the intricatecuts already made.Even so, the fittingprocess was keenlychallenging and keptour crew on the job forseveral months.

antique hand pump imported from Europe. In the back is a more compli-cated stone fountain. Where many features of this type and style are pre-cast,poured-in-place or pre-fabricated, this one is carved from three stone slabsin the European tradition – another gem from Ruggeri Marble & Granite.

The top piece is a traditional tall urn carved from a single piece of stone.This urn overflows into a basin that feeds the lion’s head spouts. The headswere also carved from solid slabs and were chosen by the homeowners froma multitude of possible poses. The base of the fountain is a quatrefoil: Oncevery large, it was ultimately reduced to a five-foot diameter and was itselfcarved from another single stone slab.

This project was every contractors’ dream: an architect who had avision; a general contractor who not only listened to input, but also re-lied upon our expertise; clients who knew there were going to be changesand indeed embraced them both emotionally and financially; and a wholehost of subcontractors who were excited about what they were doing anddid all they could to cooperate and roll with the changes.

Among us, we created a dream of a project.


In a project filled with wonderful touches, theindoor pool stands out more than most withits brilliant tile finish, the sense of spaciousnesslent by the perimeter-overflow approach werecommended and the dynamic artistry ondisplay in the pool’s and wall’s tile patternsand the ceiling’s gently wafting clouds.

47


For the typical visitor, the newly-re-opened Getty Villa is perhaps the most ex-quisite of all possible venues for viewingancient works of art and craft – reasonenough to plan a visit. For students of ar-chitecture and design, however, there’smuch more, particularly the opportuni-ty to immerse yourself in the living,breathing environment of a classic Romanvilla and its abundant amenities.

The Getty Villa site encompasses 64acres of a rugged canyon rising above thePacific Ocean in Malibu, Calif., and wasonce home to oil tycoon J. Paul Getty. Afanatical collector of Greco-Roman an-tiquities,he dedicated part of his originalranch-style home as a public museum in1954. By 1974, less than a year before hisdeath,he had completed and opened theoriginal Villa on another part of the es-tate, realizing his ambition of creating a

public monument dedicated to the arts.The Villa’s layout was inspired by the

Villa dei Papiri, a first-century countryhouse in Pompeii buried by the eruptionof Mt.Vesuvius in 79 A.D. It was Getty’svision to display his collection in a settingevocative of its contents’ historic originsand he realized it, but there were com-promises: The spaces were crowded,andthe works on display also included sam-ples of paintings and craftworks of muchmore recent vintage – Renaissance mas-ters, baroque furnishings and other dis-tinctly non-classical artworks.

The Villa closed in 1997 at about thesame time the sprawling Getty Center wasopened some 13 miles to the east (formore on this amazing place, see “Art forArt’s Sake” in our November/December2001 issue, page 40). With attention fo-cused on the new facility (which helped

A Villa for the

AgesReopened in January 2006

after a nine-year renovation

project, the Getty Villa in

Malibu, Calif., has now re-

sumed its role as host to

what may be the world’s

greatest private collection

of Greco-Roman antiqui-

ties. With its classic archi-

tecture, subtle gardens and

elegant watershapes – not

to mention great views of

the Pacific Ocean – the fa-

cility is both a state-of-the-

art museum and a designed

space that links the distant

past to the present day.

B y E r i c H e r m a n

by taking over all of the Getty collectionsother than the Greco-Roman antiquities),the original “Getty”vanished from pub-lic consciousness, allowing the painstak-ing renovation to proceed with the ut-most discretion.

WELCOME BACKThe facility reopened January 28,2006,

and Getty’s 44,000-piece collection of an-tiquities has taken center stage,with 1,200objects now on permanent display.

With the veils of secrecy pulled back,wenow know that the renovation includedthe complete gutting and renovation ofboth the J. Paul Getty Museum and thesite’s original ranch house; constructionof an outdoor classical theater and a hostof educational and research facilities; andan updating of the grounds and the site’smultiple watershapes.

The Getty Villa has resurfaced not onlywith an updated look and layout,but alsowith a revised mission to serve as an ed-ucation center and museum dedicated tothe study of the arts and cultures of an-cient Greece,Rome and Etruria. Whetheryou’re a scholar, art lover or a casual vis-itor, the site offers an experience rich withhistory, art and breathtaking physicalbeauty.

In a sense, the renovations basicallycompleted the work begun when the fa-cility was originally established, allowingvisitors to enjoy both the remote past andtasteful modernity. Indeed, the spaces,lighting,artworks,architecture, landscapesand watershapes all conspire to transportthe visitor to a place where ancient tex-tures come harmoniously together withmodern needs.

The renovations were led by Boston-based architects Rodolfo Machado andJorge Silvetti (who landed the projectin 1994 after an extensive design com-petition) in collaboration with SPF:ar-chitects, the local architects of record.Their first visit to the estate took placewhile nearby brush fires were dustingthe landscape with ash – an ominousreminder of the fate of the Villa deiPapiri and something they took as acaution about the perils of directly im-itating the past.

The original villa had been designed bythe architecture firm of Langdon & Wilson


A key concept be-hind the site plan isthat visitors to theGetty Villa are enter-ing a grand archeo-logical dig – an im-pression madestrongly by the verti-cal hardscape’s strati-fied layering.Moving from lightupper to dark lowerlayers, the site bot-toms out in the entryarea with a captivepool fed by weepingwalls.

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The facility’s suggestion of the opulenceof Roman life is the product of countlessdetails, from the graceful sweep of thetheater space and the delicacy of the smallfountain in the museum’s atrium to thegalleries’ use of natural light and the en-gaging colors, textures and spaciousnessof the ceilings, colonnades and pas-sageways.

Photo by Richard Ross, courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Trust.

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Photo courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Trust.

51

in consultation with historian Norman Neuerberg, who atGetty’s behest sought to evoke the past rather than recreate it.Neuerberg relied on his extensive knowledge of Roman hous-es, public buildings and tombs to vest the original design withdetails ranging from the structure’s long colonnades and tilemosaics to its reflecting pools and tailored landscapes.

Machado and Silvetti stayed true to that original design, ex-panding on its foundations by embracing a variety of ancientbuildings and contemporary museums while designing newstructures and accommodating the site’s steep and occasion-ally forbidding topography (always a challenge to visitors).

THEMATIC DISCOVERYThe changes are extensive, no doubt, but they are so deft-

ly interwoven with the original Villa that it’s often difficult todiscern new from old. Along the way, the designers cleverlyintegrated decidedly modern touches with traditional de-signs in a way that fuses ancient and modern in passionate-ly creative ways.

The key to the design program is the thought that the mu-

seum/villa is itself an archaeological site that has been exca-vated and liberated from the rugged terrain.

Accordingly, one of the key recurring elements in the hard-scape and the site’s network of retaining walls is the suggestionthat they graphically represent geological strata that mightbe found on a trail leading down into a major archeologicaldig. Textured concrete and other materials including bronze,travertine, red porphyry and teak are systematically layered,providing visitors with reference points for specific elevationsfound throughout the property.

This motif is evident from the moment the visitor exits theparking structures and reaches the Entry Pavilion. This ac-cessway is partially buried in the canyon’s walls, enclosed onboth sides but open to the sky. It leaves you with no doubt thatyou are entering an environment separate from the surround-ing urban landscape.

From there, the visitor follows the Path to Museum, whichopens onto expansive views of the entire site and reinforcesthe sense that you are looking down on the J. Paul GettyMuseum building (formerly the original villa) from above as


Encompassed within four walls and visible from museum galleries and corridors,the Inner Peristyle sets a cool, calm tone for the entire space. Located off the en-try atrium, the five statues stopping by the water’s edge invite visitors to do thesame before proceeding on to the galleries.

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though approaching it as an ancient artifact set in a huge ar-chaeological site.

The pathway leads to a viewpoint overlooking one of the fa-cility’s new additions: the 450-seat Barbara and LawrenceFleischman Theater. Inspired by a multitude of Greek andRoman archetypes, the outdoor classical theater’s seats con-veniently double as steps down to a plaza at the front of themuseum itself.

Visitors can either descend those steps or move across to aseries of conventional staircases that descend into an Atriumthat features a vanishing-edge watershape surrounded on threesides by the stratified hardscape. The impression here is thatthe water has settled into the lowest elevations of part of thedig, with its dark surface reflecting the adjacent structures ina dramatic interplay of light, shadow and architecture.

INSIDE OUTSIDETrue to its Roman roots, the renovated facility breaks down

the usual barriers between interior and exterior spaces in a con-stantly changing interplay of light and shadow.

The museum building itself, for example, features the dra-matic Inner Peristyle surrounded on all sides by Corinthiancolumns. All of this architecture guides the eye to a 50-foot-long, rectilinear reflecting pool surrounded by a variety of stat-ues and plants.

On the south side of the museum is the Outer Peristyle, thisone with an elongated reflecting pool that stretches out for 225feet and surrounded on three sides by columned terraces thatlead the eye to an opening on the far end over a breathtakingocean view. The space includes pathways, seating areas,bronzesculptures, tile mosaics and vividly colored frescos.

Continuing to the east side,visitors can relax in the intimateEast Garden, which features two small, tiled fountains – one areplica of a fountain from the House of the Large Fountain inPompeii.

Reinforcing the notion that this is a working villa, the newdesign includes a large herb garden that runs the length of thenorth side of the building. The space also includes a beautifulwooden arbor covered in grapevines, a series of small water-features, several types of fruit trees and numerous varieties


of aromatic herbs and flowering plants.The flow from these outdoor spaces to the interior spaces

they encompass is fluid and seamless, creating a strong sensethat the outside of the museum is as important (and certain-ly as beautiful) as the inside. Those interiors were dramaticallyreworked, especially through the addition of scores of win-dows and skylights that wash many of the statues and artifactswith natural light.

The effect of sunlight caressing the ancient artworks is quitedramatic – and a marked contrast to the former museum,where there was a need,as in most museums, to protect paint-

ings and furnishings from the damage to be caused by sun-light. Now that almost all of what’s on display is relatively in-destructible stone or tile, the new galleries have assumed an airof vivid spaciousness.

The openness of the design and clear lines of sight also of-fer the visitor visual reference points and constantly delight theeye with views to the ocean,hillsides and gardens. One key ad-dition to the interior is a grand staircase that links the upperand lower floors of the 105,000-square-foot museum spaceand provides access to all galleries and the inner and outer peri-style gardens.

Personal OdysseyI first visited the Getty estate in 1977, about three years after

it first opened. Even through younger eyes, I could see that thefacility was something special, and the architecture, gardensand reflecting pools, the fountains, art and mosaics, the oceanviews and rolling hillsides all made impressions that have last-ed through the years.

To this day, in fact, I credit that first visit with inspiring my loveand admiration of classical sculpture: It was truly amazing tostand within arm’s length of objects that had been so beautifullycrafted thousands of years ago – a transforming experience, Imust say.

I revisited the site several times before it closed in 1997 andnever stopped being inspired by what I saw. But for all of thepower of those experiences, there was always a sense of some-thing missing and almost forbidding about the facility: The spaceswere dark, secluded, closed in – almost eerie in places. Still spe-cial, but a bit cold and intimidating.

I was invited to visit the site two weeks before it reopened inJanuary (during preview weeks) – a trip filled with great antici-pation on my part. As is the case with many who remember theoriginal facility, I was interested to see just what had changed.

Little was known publicly about specifics of the renovation, al-though a certain curiosity was piqued when the Getty Center openedacross town and featured so little of the old Getty’s treasury of an-tiquities. Mostly, I feared that the new Villa would somehow notlive up to the growing hype – or to the high expectations I’d workedup on my own as a result of numerous visits to the old site withfamily and friends.

From the moment I drove onto the grounds, however, it wasobvious that the transformation was well worth the long wait. Forme, the East Garden was a singular revelation among countlessothers: The sound of water trickling in the elegant fountains, therustling of leaves and the wafting of aromas from the floweringplants were all, in their own ways, as inspiring as the magnificentartwork all around me.

– E.H.

Beyond the galleries to the west is the Outer Peristyle with its longpool surrounded by colonnades, sculpted gardens, trees, seatingareas and statuary. The traditional shape has been punctuated bysmall plumes of water and statues – replicas of originals found atPompeii – focus the semicircles at both ends of the pool.


GARDEN PARTIESThe design cues and cultural au-

thenticity expressed in the museum’sarchitecture, detailing and galleries areall carried outside into the landscape.Groves of olive trees, more than 300species of flowering plants, kitchenherbs and other plants indigenous tothe ancient Mediterranean cover morethan 55,000 square feet of garden spaceimmediately accessible from severalpoints inside the villa and surround-ing plazas.

The gardens and the canyon’s hillsideswere designed by the Los Angeles land-scape architecture firms of Denis L.

Kurutz & Associates and kornrandolph.The Mediterranean plantings that de-

fine the gardens gradually transition to amix of plants indigenous to the nearbySanta Monica Mountains as well as oth-ers that grow in similar climate zonesaround the world. In all, more than100,000 plants (including approximate-ly 1,500 trees) were brought in and addedto the site.

Upon entering the property,visitors ex-perience a distinctively Roman-styletableau, including cobblestone roads,handcrafted stone pillars and scenic viewsof hillsides planted with cypress, cedar,

oak, sycamore and olive trees. Along thepath to the museum,trees are used at sev-eral points to frame views of the museumbelow. The path also cuts through chan-nels of fragrance marked by sage, rose-mary and morning glory. These plantsflow down toward the outdoor classicaltheater, which is also set off by stands ofmature trees.

The gardens all reflect the fact that theywere important features of Roman lifefor reasons of pleasure as well as practi-cality. Where the gardens of the origi-nal Getty Villa were rigid, geometric andformal – and more in keeping with


Versailles than Pompeii – the new gar-dens are far more inviting, softer in am-biance and richer in variety.

� The Outer Peristyle is the largestand most visually arresting of the Villa’sgardens. The big reflecting pool definesthe space, while bronze sculptures (repli-cas of originals unearthed at Pompeii)recline on rough-hewn marble pedestalson both ends of the watershape. Ivy top-iaries, small rose gardens, Greek laurelsand sculpted pomegranate trees framethe pool, which glimmers with whiteplaster and small plume jets. It’s a tradi-tional watershape that might have been

found just about anywhere in the Greekor Roman world.

� The Inner Peristyle is much small-er than its outdoor companion and ishemmed in on all sides by 36 columnsand the walls of the museum. Despiteits diminutive stature, its position with-in the museum enables the mostlygreen, non-flowering plants and re-flecting pool to play a grand role by vi-sually linking various galleries, atriumsand corridors. The edges of the pool aresurrounded by five maidens – bronzereplicas placed in their ancient positionsalongside the pool – as well as two small,

marble fountains with overflow poolsthat mark the garden’s corners.

� The East Garden is the quietest,smallest and most meditative of the allof the site’s outdoor areas. The space re-volves around a circular lily fountaincomplemented on one side by the afore-mentioned replica of a tiled Pompeianwall fountain. Tall white-plastered wallsdecorated with seashells and theatermasks surround the garden, which isfilled with boxwood, laurel, mulberryand strawberry along with floweringplants such as larkspur, Madonna lily,acanthus and cyclamen.


A stroll through the corridors at the perimeter of the Outer Peristyle may be the most visually rewarding of any pedestrian walkon the Villa grounds. The special views afforded through the colonnade moderate the visual dominance of the watershape andallow observers to see the space’s details with greater ease.


P


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2 Air-O-Lator (pg. 26)(800) 821-3177 www.airolator.com

3 Aquamatic Cover Systems (pg. 3)(800) 262-4044 www.aquamatic.com

118 Automated Fire & Water Effects (pg. 26)(702) 655-4074 www.automatedfireandwater.com

27 CAT Controllers (pg. 21)(800) 657-2287 www.chemauto.com

15 Colored Aggregate Systems (pg. 17)(407) 851-6501

8 Cover-Pools (pg. 67)(800) 447-2838 www.coverpools.com

11 Coverstar (pg. 11)(800) 617-7283 www.coverstar.com

65 EasyPro Pond Products (pg. 65)(800) 448-3873 www.stoneycreekequip.com

46 Emperor Aquatics (pg. 18)(610) 970-0440 www.emperoraquatics.com

103 Ewing Irrigation (pg. 8)(800) 343-9464 www.ewing1.com

79 Floating Island International (pg. 15)(800) 450-1088 www.floatingislandinternational.com

16 Genesis 3 Schools (pg. 19)(877) 513-5800 www.genesis3.comGilderfluke & Co. (pg. 12)(800) 776-5972 www.gilderfluke.com

74 Great American Waterfall Co. (pg. 65)(888) 683-0042 www.gawcinc.com

111 Hydro Dramatics (pg. 20)(877) 988-7867 www.hydrodramatics.com

96 Jandy (Water Pik Technologies) (pg. 68)(800) 227-1442 www.jandy.com

57 Jungle Labs (pg. 22)(800) 357-7104 www.junglepond.com

63 Macalite Equipment (pg. 27)(877) 622-2548 www.macaliteequipment.com

14 Master Supply (pg. 12)(626) 967-5544 www.master-supply.com

109 National Plasterers Council (pg. 23)(866) 483-4672 www.npconline.org

4 National Pool Tile (pg. 7)(888) 411-8453 www.nptgonline.com

62 Oase North America (pg. 29)(800) 365-3880 www.oasepumps.comPool Design Software (pg. 15)(800) 772-6956 www.pooldesignsoftware.com

45 PoolFog (pg. 22)(866) 766-5364 www.poolfog.com

120 Recreonics (pg. 14)(888) 428-7771 www.recreonics.com

61 Speck Pumps-Pool Products (pg. 39)(800) 223-8538 www.usa.speck-pumps.com

35 Spray Force Mfg. (pg. 25)(800) 824-8490 www.sprayforce.com

114 S.R. Smith (pg. 13)(800) 824-4387 www.srsmith.com

54 Vidrepur of America (pg. 9)(305) 639-2926 www.vidrepur.usWall Whale-GABco Products (pg. 12)(866) 888-8778 www.wallwhale.com

56 Waterway Plastics (pg. 2)(805) 981-0262 www.waterwayplastics.com

48 Yellow Mountain Stoneworks (pg. 20)(206) 932-5696 www.yellow-mountain.net

135 Waterway (pg. 62)136 Bobcat (pg. 62)137 Jungle Laboratories (pg. 62)138 SmartPool (pg. 62)139 Pentair Water Pool & Spa (pg. 62)140 Multicoat (pg. 62) 141 RSL Professional Landscape Lighting (pg. 62)142 Blastcrete Equipment Co. (pg. 62)143 EasyPro Pond Products (pg. 63)144 Zodiac (pg. 63)145 Magic Technologies (pg. 63)146 Crystal Fountains (pg. 63)147 Blue-White (pg. 64)148 SeaKlear (pg. 64)149 CPI Plastics Group (pg. 64)150 Dunn-Rite Pool Products (pg. 64)151 Multiquip (pg. 64)152 Little Giant Pump Co. (pg. 64)153 Atlas Minerals & Chemicals (pg. 64)154 Custom Molded Products (pg. 64)155 Keystone Retaining Wall Systems (pg. 65)156 Cal Pump (pg. 65)157 Intermatic (pg. 65)158 Poly Solutions (pg. 65)

Of Interest Index:

Let your suppliers know where you found out about them: Mention codeWWSS440066 to identify this issue when contacting them by phone or the Internet

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� February 1999 (Vol. 1, No. 1)Tisherman on working in difficult soils; White onedge treatments; Lacher on expansive soils.� June 1999 (Vol. 1, No. 3)Phillips on water and decks; Parmelee & Schickon soils and geology; Anderson on water sounds. � August 1999 (Vol. 1, No. 4)Anderson on stream design; Adams on commu-nity waterparks; Gutai on spa hydraulics.� October 1999 (Vol. 1, No. 5)Holden on aquatic-design history; Mitovich ondry-deck fountains; Tisherman on site geometry.� December 1999 (Vol. 1, No, 6)Finley on Japanese gardens; a roundtable on poolsand landscape design; West on color rendering. � February 2000 (Vol. 2, No. 2)Hersman on lighting design; Macaire on faux-rock installations; Andrews on glass mosaics. � March 2000 (Vol. 2, No. 3)L’Heureux on project management; Long on steelcages; Forni on installing and maintaining lakes.� April/May 2000 (Vol. 2, No. 4)Schwartz on garden access; Anderson on stream-beds; Nantz on watershapes and architecture.� September 2000 (Vol. 2, No. 7)Davitt on designing for small spaces; Altvater onthe importance of aeration; Hetzner on sheet falls.� Nov./December 2000 (Vol. 2, No. 9)Arahuete on John Lautner; L’Heureux on stretch-ing laminar flows; Benedetti on satellite surveying.� January/February 2001 (Vol. 3, No. 1)Holden on a retro-look design (I); Fleming onupscale approaches; Gutai on pump technology.� March 2001 (Vol. 3, No. 2)Moneta & Farley on site-specific design; Benedettion fiberoptics; Alperstein on golf-course water.� April 2001 (Vol. 3, No. 3)Jauregui on inspired clients; Dirsmith on frostyfountains; Tisherman on deluxe finishing.� May 2001 (Vol. 3, No. 4)Reed on sculpture gardens; L’Heureux on se-quenced water; Brandes on restoring riverfronts.� June 2001 (Vol. 3, No. 5)Winget on fun-inspired waterforms; Holden onsurvey formats; Schwartz on classic stonework (I).� July/August 2001 (Vol. 3, No. 6)Rugg on pond basics (I); Ruthenberg on perime-ter overflow; Schwartz on classic stonework (II).� September 2001 (Vol. 3, No. 7)Rugg on pond basics (II); Urban on energy sav-ings; Pasotti on interactive waterplay.

� October 2001 (Vol. 3, No. 8)Tisherman on hilltop views; Hagen on naturalstream work; Schwartz on classic stonework (III).� Nov/December 2001 (Vol. 3, No. 9)Straub on Kansas City’s fountains; McCloskey onthe Getty Center; Tisherman on Fallingwater.� January 2002 (Vol. 4, No. 1)Phillips on Hearst Castle’s watershapes; Boweron the Raleigh Hotel pool; Roth on Katsura Rikyu.� February 2002 (Vol. 4, No. 2)Marosz on project integration; Moneta on spa-edge details; Affleck on scupture and water.� May 2002 (Vol. 4, No. 5)Anderson on pond essentials; Pasotti on inter-active waterplay; Gibbons on ‘stellar’ fiberoptics.� June 2002 (Vol. 4, No. 6)Altorio on civic fountains; Gutai on skimmers;Beard on working with landscape architects.� September 2002 (Vol. 4, No. 8)Rosenberg & Herman on site-sensitive design;Dirsmith on long-term design; Gutai on filters.� October 2002 (Vol. 4, No. 9)Copley & Wolff on modernizing fountains; Bethuneon imitating nature; Tisherman on edgy colors.� Nov/December 2002 (Vol. 4, No. 10)Holden on Villa d’Este; Hobbs on Maya Lin’s wa-tershapes; Phillips on water in transit.� January 2003 (Vol. 5, No. 1)Fleming on high-end ambitions; Harris on deco-rative interior finishes; Gutai on surge tanks.� February 2003 (Vol. 5, No. 2)The Beards on collaboration; Yavis on customvinyl-liner pools; Mitovich on Microsoft’s campus.� May 2003 (Vol. 5, No. 5)Zaretsky on sensory gardens; Freemanon hydraulicretrofitting; Hanson on water/stone sculpture.� June 2003 (Vol. 5, No. 6)Gunn on fountain whimsy; Tisherman on water-shaping for an art collector; Holden on tile.� July 2003 (Vol. 5, No. 7)Fintel on attracting birds; Lacher on structural en-gineering; Alperstein on golf course design.� August 2003 (Vol. 5, No. 8)Miller on site-specific fountains; Gutai on plumb-ing joints; Holden on period-sensitive restoration.� September 2003 (Vol. 5, No. 9)Hebdon on borrowing naturalism; Ruddy on in-door designs; So on modernist sculpture.� October 2003 (Vol. 5, No. 10)Mitovich on dry-deck fountains; Roth on liner is-sues; Marckx & Fleming on glass tile.

� November 2003 (Vol. 5, No. 11)Holden on carved stone; Shaw on roles of con-sultants; Forni on period-sensitive renovation.� December 2003 (Vol. 5, No. 12)Five-year article and topic indexes; five-year indexfor all columns, 1999-2003.� January 2004 (Vol. 6, No. 1)Ruddyon enclosures; Lacheron steel and concrete;Forni on water quality for natural watershapes.� February 2004 (Vol. 6, No. 2)Varick on nature and architecture; Benedetti onprotecting stone; Kaiseron grand-scale watershapes.� March 2004 (Vol. 6, No. 3)Morris on kinetic sculpture; Cattano on collabo-ration; Hebdon on water and settings for healing.� May 2004 (Vol. 6, No. 5)Rowley on main-drain safety; Ewen on purpose-ful restoration; Dallonson high-wire watershaping.� June 2004 (Vol. 6, No. 6)Dallons on a hilltop treasure; Mitovich on the D-Day Memorial; Slawson on Japanese inspiration.� July 2004 (Vol. 6, No. 7)Benedetti on fortifying concrete; Shaw on fountain‘standards’; Holden on Italy’s watershapes.� August 2004 (Vol. 6, No. 8)Bravoon Olympic-scale restoration; Martin &Testeron water and music; Jauregui on clients and styles.� September 2004 (Vol. 6, No. 9)Abaldo on a grand-scale vision; Gutai on valves;Lennox Moyer on principles of lighting water.� October 2004 (Vol. 6, No. 10)diGiacomo & Holden on watershaping’s role; Allenon integrated spaces; Grusheskion a river’s history. � November 2004 (Vol. 6, No. 11)Abaldo on grand-scale detailing; Freeman on wa-ter-chemistry ABCs; Hughes on naturalistic design.� December 2004 (Vol. 6, No. 12)Revisiting 25 projects that define The PlatinumStandard in watershaping.

Note: These listings represent partial con-tents of the available issues. In addition, allof our 2005 and 2006 issues are available!

� January 2005 � September 2005� February 2005 � October 2005� March 2005 � November 2005� April 2005 � December 2005� May 2005 � January 2006� June 2005 � February 2006� July 2005 � March 2006� August 2005 � April 2006

� The Herb Garden is the least for-mal and second largest of the spaces ad-jacent to the villa. A set of three smallponds filled with lilies rolls down thecenter; they’re surrounded by plants tra-ditionally grown for cooking, medicinaland ceremonial purposes in Romanhomes, including thyme, catmint, basil,oregano and sage. There are grapevinesand fruit trees – plums, peaches, figs andapricots – and three large date palms,highly valued in Roman society, towerabove the space.

WATER WAYSIn all, the new Getty Villa has 11 wa-

tershapes, and all but the pond in the en-try stairwell are based on classic designs.The Romans were pragmatists to thecore, so there’s little drama in the way wa-ter is used, but the watershapes are sothoroughly woven into the fabric of thesespaces that they just wouldn’t work with-out them.

Indeed, the water goes a long way to-


The East Garden is the most meditative of all the spaces established for the GettyVilla. Surrounded by walls and graced by the sounds of both its central fountainand a gorgeously tiled wall fountain, the garden offers visitors a place to rest andregroup during the course of a visit to the galleries.

Photo courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Trust.

ward establishing the atmosphere ineach of the facility’s spaces and invari-ably leads the eye to key features and de-tails, whether they are sculptures, plantsor distant views.

Versions of the pools in the Inner andOuter Peristyles were present with theoriginal villa, but the tight relationshipsthey now share with their surroundingspaces were conspicuously absent. Nowit’s as though the statues and the plantsare there to enjoy the water and the bu-colic setting – and will continue to do solong after our visits come to an end.

The Getty Villa functions on so manylevels that going to the site is a bit like a finemeal with a great bottle of wine: that is,something that unfolds as an experiencethat is far better absorbed than it can be ful-ly explained or understood. The renova-tion opens the eye and mind to experiencesand environments of the distant past,butat the same time it acknowledges and ac-commodates the modern world – a de-sign, it seems, for the ages.


The Herb Garden is another special destination – and among the most educational when it comes to conveying informationabout the nature of life in Rome 2,000 years ago. It’s a working garden, filled with herbs and medicinal plants, and has twounderstated waterfeatures – one with a distinct message about abundance.

Photo by R

ichard Ross, courtesy of the J.P

aul Getty Trust.

SMARTPOOL offers Dynamic Pro X, a tough, in-telligent robotic cleaner for mid-size public pools.Designed for durability, the unit features rein-forced components, self-learning software, dualmotors and an indicator that tells the operatorwhen the filter bag is clogged. It scrubs, brush-es, vacuums and filters floors, walls and the wa-terline in less than six hours for pools up to 25 meters long. SmartPool,Boca Raton, FL.


OF INTERESTOF INTEREST The following information has been provided to WaterShapes by product suppliers. To find outhow to contact these companies, look for the Product Information Card located on page 58.

WATERWAY has introduced Cascades to enhancespa environments in refreshing and creative ways.Featuring a patented design that allows for quickand easy installation with a perfect seal, the sys-tems are available in three sizes (3-1/2, 6-1/2 and8-1/2 inches) that are compact enough to fit justabout anywhere on a spa. The flows also can beilluminated with either fiberoptic or LED lighting.

Waterway, Oxnard, CA.

Circle 135 on Reader Service Card

SSPPAA CCAASSCCAADDEESS

BOBCAT has introduced the Model 323Compact Excavator. The unit features a re-tractable undercarriage, impressive break-out force, a digging depth to 7 feet, 6 inch-es and a reach to 12 feet, 10 inches inaddition to a hydraulic-piston pump for fuelefficiency and long service life. It also has auxiliary hydraulics fordriving a variety of tools, including augers, clamps and hydraulic break-ers. Bobcat, West Fargo, ND.

CCOOMMPPAACCTT EEXXCCAAVVAATTOORR



JUNGLE LABORATORIES now offers Pond Oxy Clear,a potassium permanganate water treatment with theoxidizing power to break down organics and clear awaybacteria, fungus and parasites. Designed to deal withproblems resulting from overfeeding, fish waste anddecaying plant material, the product also fights sus-pended algae, plant-borne fish diseases and more.Jungle Laboratories, Cibolo, TX.

PPOONNDD--WWAATTEERR OOXXIIDDIIZZEERR


RROOBBOOTTIICC PPOOOOLL CCLLEEAANNEERR

BLASTCRETE EQUIPMENT CO. has in-creased the output of the attachment forits hydraulic concrete pump from 18 to25 yards per hour. The model RD6536now features a 3-inch hydraulic squeezepump with infinitely variable pumpspeeds from 0 to 25 yards per hour. The attachment enables the pumpto move concrete with up to 3/4-inch aggregate and shotcrete with 3/8-inch aggregate. Blastcrete Equipment Co., Anniston, AL.

PENTAIR WATER POOL & SPA has introduced QuadD.E. filters. Designed to combine the water clarityof D.E. with the convenience of cartridges, the fil-ters have four removable D.E. cartridges for sim-pler maintenance, increased filter-surface area,greater cleaning capacity and extended time be-tween cleanings – all in a compact, chemical-re-sistant fiberglass-reinforced polypropylene tank.Pentair Water Pool & Spa, Sanford, NC.


HHYYBBRRIIDD DD..EE..//CCAARRTTRRIIDDGGEE FFIILLTTEERRSS

MULTICOAT offers Multi-Stain, a concrete staindesigned for residential and commercial appli-cations including pool decks, patios, drivewaysand interiors. Available in 12 colors from terracotta to gray, the material is best applied witha pump sprayer and works with just one coat.When the stain is dry to the touch, a clear glossfiller is applied to complete the job. Multicoat,Rancho Santa Margarita, CA.

CCOONNCCRREETTEE SSTTAAIINN



RSL PROFESSIONAL LANDSCAPE LIGHTING of-fers a new series of outdoor-lighting fixtures in sol-id copper – and in brass or aluminum for some mod-els. Intended to give designers choices at variouslevels, the fixtures come in both traditional and con-temporary shapes and make elegant statementsalong driveways or paths and when used in plant-ed areas. RSL Professional Landscape Lighting,Chatsworth, CA.

CCOOPPPPEERR LLIIGGHHTTIINNGG FFIIXXTTUURREESS


CCOONNCCRREETTEE--PPUUMMPP AATTTTAACCHHMMEENNTT


CRYSTAL FOUNTAINS now offers submersibleLED spot- and floodlights for fountains and wa-ter displays. Engineered for compatibility withthe company’s controllers, the lights allow de-signers to customize waterfeatures with a near-infinite variety of colors and lighting effects.The long-lived, low-maintenance LEDs come in 5, 15 and 25 watt mod-els in various mountings. Crystal Fountains, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

EASYPRO POND PRODUCTS has expanded its lineof magnetic-drive pumps from 11 to 13 with the ad-dition of two new models – including one that pumps6,700 gallons per hour. The super-quiet, energy-ef-ficient pumps are now available in a range from 45to 6,700 gph and have been designed for running ineither veLarge Mag-Drive {um[srtical or horizontalorientations, whether external or submersed.

EasyPro Pond Products, Grant, MI.


LLAARRGGEE MMAAGG--DDRRIIVVEE PPUUMMPPSS

ZODIAC offers the LM3 Saltwater Chlorinationsystem. Available in three models for use withpools up to a 40,000-gallon capacity, the prod-uct installs easily with a new or existing circula-tion system and features a simple control systemthat enables the user to set it and forget it. Theelectrodes are largely self-cleaning, and the hous-ing has a clear bubble that allows for easy inspections. Zodiac, PompanoBeach, FL.

SSAALLTTWWAATTEERR CCHHLLOORRIINNAATTOORR



MAGIC TECHNOLOGIES has introduced AquaPearl, a pre-blended pool finish made up of spe-cially selected pebble aggregates and fortifiedwhite Portland cement. Designed to combine thedurability of pebble finishes with the increasedsmoothness of smaller pebble aggregates, the

product is available with color-fast ceramic pigments that offer limit-less variety in pool design. Magic Technologies, Apopka, FL.

SSMMAALLLL--PPEEBBBBLLEE PPOOOOLL FFIINNIISSHH


LLEEDD FFOOUUNNTTAAIINN LLIIGGHHTTIINNGG




OF INTERESTOF INTEREST

DUNN-RITE POOL PRODUCTS has publisheda comprehensive catalog on its line of pool prod-ucts and accessories. The 12-page, full-colorbooklet covers the Jet Net remote-control poolskimmer, portable and deck-mounted basket-ball and volleyball systems and the Wonderfalland Flowerfall fountains – systems that retro-fit pools with water displays up to 15 feet tall. Dunn-Rite Pool Products,Elwood, IN.

BLUE-WHITE offers the Flexflo A-100N high-pressure hypo-chlorinator. Designed forhigh output at high pressures for the mostdemanding pool, spa and waterpark appli-cations, the system uses a peristaltic pumpfor high accuracy with outputs of up to 95.1

gallons per day at pressures to 100 psi. A front-panel dial controls out-put, and the system has a tube-failure detection system. Blue-White,Huntington Beach, CA.


AAUUTTOOMMAATTEEDD CCHHLLOORRIINNAATTOORR

SEAKLEAR has published a comprehensive bookon water clarity – a how-to reference that definesways to attain clean, clear swimming pool andspa water. Written by industry veteran Terry Arko,the 72-page book is set up in a problem/solutionformat, provides scientific explanations for thecauses of water problems and moves step by stepthrough chemical and physical issues. SeaKlear,Redmond, WA.

WWAATTEERR CCLLAARRIITTYY TTEEXXTT



CPI PLASTICS GROUP, which offers Eon al-ternative decking products, has introduced anew line of accessories for spas, including athree-panel privacy screen (with an optionalfourth panel), a spa step system and a full gaze-bo. All spa accessories are available in two col-ors (redwood or gray) to coordinate with the

company’s decking, railing, fencing and spa-cladding products. CPIPlastics Group, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

FFAAUUXX--WWOOOODD SSPPAA AACCCCEESSSSOORRIIEESS


PPOOOOLL AACCCCEESSSSOORRIIEESS

CUSTOM MOLDED PRODUCTS has released a quickreference guide to its line of fittings, jets and com-ponents for pools and spas. The laminated, eight-page fold-out brochure covers main drains, anti-vortex lids, jets, unions, tees, elbows, skimmers,drain heads, storage bins and more. It also offersdetailed installation and pressure-testing instruc-tions for 2-1/2-inch gunite spa jets. Custom MoldedProducts, Tyrone, GA.

MULTIQUIP offers the MVC-80 Series of vibratoryplate compactors. Designed to reduce vibration by50 percent when compared to previous models, thefour long-lasting models feature innovative anti-vi-bration handle systems that reduce operator fatiguewhile boosting productivity. Ideal for compactinggranular soils, at maximum speed the units can com-pact up to 72 feet of material per minute. Multiquip,

Carson, CA.


PPLLAATTEE CCOOMMPPAACCTTOORRSS

LITTLE GIANT PUMP CO. has published a cata-log covering its WaterMark line of watergardenproducts. The 48-page brochure covers pond kits,waterfalls, skimmers, accessories, UV lights, fil-ters, pumps, liners, underlayments and more, in-cluding decorative features, water treatments, plant-care products and fish food – a full range ofmaterials needed by watergarden designers and in-stallers. Little Giant Pump Co., Oklahoma City, OK.

WWAATTEERRGGAARRDDEENN PPRROODDUUCCTTSS



ATLAS MINERALS & CHEMICALS offersa line of repair products for concretepools, including Epoxybond Pool Pasteand Pool Paste Fast Set (for resetting tileand fixing hairline cracks), Pool Putty (forstopping leaks and making repairs under

water) and Concrete Pool Patch (for repairing damaged surfaces, mold-ing new corners and copings and setting anchor bolts). Atlas Minerals& Chemicals, Mertztown, PA.

CCOONNCCRREETTEE--RREEPPAAIIRR PPRROODDUUCCTTSS


RREEFFEERREENNCCEE GGUUIIDDEE


POLY SOLUTIONS offers Ultra Poly OneCoat, a pool paint engineered for harshenvironmental conditions. Originally de-signed for industrial containment ves-sels, the VOC-free material is a hybridepoxy that resists harsh chemicals, constant exposure, freeze/thaw cy-cles and more. The prepackaged product needs no mixing, takes lim-ited surface preparation and requires just one coat. Poly Solutions,Gibsonia, PA.

KEYSTONE RETAINING WALL SYSTEMS of-fers Kapstones – peaked column caps withthe natural beauty of cut stone without theweight or high cost. The 24-by-24-inch mod-ules have ridges, clefting and authentic tex-tures, weigh 15 pounds and have recessedledges to hide the joint. They are available in

sandstone (tan), limestone (gray), granite (white) and bluestone.Keystone Retaining Wall Systems, Minneapolis, MN.


CCOOLLUUMMNN CCAAPPSS

CAL PUMP introduces SplashDance, a sys-tem designed to make ponds come alive withmusic. The kit, which includes a controller,a float, a large or small magnetic-drive pumpand either one or three fountain heads, installsin less than 30 minutes without special tools.The water jets dance and change spray heightswith the beat of client-selected music or in time to pre-programmedmovements. Cal Pump, Valencia, CA.

DDAANNCCIINNGG PPOONNDD JJEETTSS



INTERMATIC has published a catalog featuring itspool/spa products. The 32-page, full color bookletcovers wireless controls and salt-chlorine genera-tors as well as digital control panels, digital timers,electronic and air-actuated controls, mechanicalcontrol panels, transformers and transformer pan-els, freeze-protection controls and mechanical andair switches as well as parts and accessories.

Intermatic, Spring Grove, IL.

CCOONNTTRROOLL CCAATTAALLOOGG


PPOOOOLL PPAAIINNTT



f you’ve yet to read any of the works of business guru Tom Peters, you’rein for a real treat.A few years ago Peters wrote Reimagine, a book that established his reputa-

tion as a leader in the field of business philosophy and education.Last year,hereleased a trilogy of new books that expand on the themes and discussionsthat have made him both well known and hugely respected.

Although published in three separate volumes, this series – Tom PetersEssentials: Leadership, Tom Peters Essentials: Talent and Tom Peters Essentials:Trends (all from DK Publishing, 2005) – is basically a single, remarkably well-written treatise loaded with information and perspectives that clearly relateto the watershaping industry.

Beginning with “Trends,”which I think is the most interesting of the threebooks,Peters covers two major movements that resonate with what we’re see-ing in the watershaping business these days.

First, he points out that women are becoming an ever more important fac-tor in today’s economy, and the past few years have seen the meteoric rise ofwomen who have started their own successful businesses. This trend dovetailswith a sub-trend he describes in which major purchasing decisions are most-ly being made by women. Indeed, experts who track such things tell us thatwomen now make somewhere between 80 and 95 percent of the key decisions.

(This observation lines up completely with my own experience: These dayswith a large percentage of my projects, I don’t even talk to the husband anddeal exclusively with the wife.)

Peters goes on to describe a second key trend having to do with the role ofaging Baby Boomers in today’s marketplace. The generation currently ap-proaching or entering retirement age does not want to go gently into its gold-

en years, he says. Instead, they’re interested intraveling, staying healthy and spending theirmoney on exciting lifestyles at home and awayfrom home.

(Again in my own experience, I’ve designedand built more swimming pools for people morethan 70 years of age in the past two years than inmy entire career before then. I find what Peterssays about addressing the needs of these con-sumers to be right on the mark.)

What all this means, I think, is that we need toreconsider the way we approach and treat ourclients in just the way Peters recommends in theother two books. In “Talent,” for example, hewrites at length about the need to press forwardand try new things in business and develop skillswithin an organization that favor innovation. Agreat coiner of phrases, Peters advises that weneed to change because in today’s world, you’reeither going to be distinct or extinct.

In “Leadership,” he argues for increasing thetraining we give ourselves and our employees,pointing to statistics revealing that average work-ers in the United States spend just 26.3 hourson average in a classroom setting each year. Heargues urgently for seeing education as the path-way to creative thinking and says that all in-dustries in today’s world must not only acceptchange as a market condition,but also must seekto advance change.

He also says that we should honor the rebelsand fully embrace the changes they represent.We should be aware as well that we must strivefor excellence with our products because con-sumers typically want something that is eithercheap or something exciting and special – the ca-sualty being products and services that shoot forthe middle ground.For those who are caught upin status quo he says,“If it’s not broken,break it!”

Peters’discussions are inspiring, entertainingand remarkably, uniformly relevant to condi-tions I see facing the watershaping business thesedays – great stuff for anyone looking to take stockand plan for the future.

By Mike Farley

book notes

Essential Analysis

I

WS

Mike Farley is a landscape architect with more than20 years of experience and is currently a design-er/project manager for Gohlke Pools in Denton, Texas.A graduate of Genesis 3’s Level I Design School, heholds a degree in landscape architecture from TexasTech University and has worked as a watershaperin both California and Texas.

Urbane Expression Urbane Expression - WaterShapes

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