Outdoor Water Features

At Exterior Worlds, we pour all our years of experience, skill and passion into each landscape design, especially outdoor water features. Their forms and uses are many, like water itself. Here are a few examples of ones we’ve designed and installed:

• Custom fountain designs. Custom fountains are dynamic and functional outdoor water features, especially when made using highly personalized and luxurious signature designs. By providing sound and movement, these works of art extend the pleasure of your landscape design by engaging the senses.
• Garden wall fountains. With a touch of elegance, wall fountains enhance your garden by turning it into a delightful and tranquil space. If you have a theme garden, such as a Tuscan garden or modern courtyard design, they can expand that idea.
• Disappearing water fountains. The disappearing water fountain is characterized by the absence of a basin. The water seems to dissolve into the ground, when in reality it goes into a camouflaged pit and then re-circulates. This unique landscape element is a favorite of secluded areas, such as a yoga retreat or reading area.
• Reflecting pools. Reflecting pools, known for their tranquil surfaces, are most often located near taller edifices to serve as a mirror and magnifier. Through the use organic and non-organic components, they link elements together in a mesmerizing focal point.

• Koi ponds. Eye-catching, ornamental, enchanting—these are just a few of the adjectives used to describe koi ponds. Even while providing a home for its fish, these ponds give you tremendous variability, design-wise. For example, naturalistic ponds recall the wilderness. If constructed in a rectangle or circle, they contrast with amorphous shapes found elsewhere. They are as adaptable as nature itself.
• Garden waterfall designs. Using elements found in nature, such as rocks, streams, boulders and elevation, waterfall designs recreate one of the natural world’s more memorable features. Even though they are relatively expensive to install, homeowners love waterfalls for their dramatic and impressive appeal.
• Custom swimming pools. Using both new and classic concepts, a custom pool is one of the key elements in your master landscaping plan. Your relatively large financial outlay is repaid with a high level of functionality and aesthetic appeal as it works perfectly with your lifestyle, extant architecture and topography.

In considering any outdoor water feature within your landscape design, we are very cognizant of how your chosen water element blends with other elements on your property, specifically the architectural style of your home. We work for seamless integration because we want the beauty to shine through—with no jarring distractions. Our planning and designing are further defined by sophisticated style and sumptuous materials. This singular style works whether our clients’ preferences are for the simple or grand scale.

In the end, luxury in your Houston landscape design is communicated in many ways. The sense of luxury is conveyed with hardscapes, softscapes, material choices and attention to detail. Over the years, we have come to believe that an outdoor water feature is one of the most impressive landscaping elements. Water is magic. It soothes, energizes, delights. It can be playful or peaceful, inspired or inspiring. So, go ahead—indulge your aesthetic sense with the art of water.

Contemporary Garden Fountains

What is a contemporary garden fountain?
By definition, it is a custom water feature characterized by stark geometry, superior construction materials, and mechanical sophistication. They operate on remote, silent pumps that circulate water silently so that all you hear is the water itself.

Contemporary water fountains are highly customized to fit the unique parameters of an individual residence. Designs are based on linear forms and radial arcs. Decorative flair is deliberately minimized out of an eclectic passion for the abstract.

Does the presence of a contemporary garden fountain add any curb appeal to my landscape?
Yes. If you have a fountain like this build in the front of your yard, it will draw the viewer’s gaze directly in line with your front door. If you add a fountain to a backyard landscape, it will suggest a sense of outdoor living to prospective buyers.

What functional contributions can a contemporary garden fountain do for my yard?
One thing it will definitely do for you is drown out the sounds of the city with the peaceful sounds of running water. Contemporary landscape design is all about Mentalism. Adding an island of tranquility to the challenging geometry of the landscape is an excellent way to balance sense and sensibility throughout your yard.

A contemporary garden fountain is often built as the centerpiece in a courtyard garden of some sort. When lit with underwater lights, it can illuminate the immediate seating area around the fountain and serve as a focal point for conversation.

What aesthetic contribution does a contemporary garden fountain make to the landscape?
For one thing, it adds a very unique and dynamic form of vertical impact to a contemporary garden. Water suggests the essence of life but is non-organic in its own right. Its lack of form is ideal for a landscape shaped by abstract conceptual that challenge the comfort zone of the five senses. However, since water is the foundation of life itself it paradoxically works to soften a contemporary landscape just enough to make it appealing.

What materials are used to construct contemporary garden fountains?
Any material that catches the eye and provides a stable structure will work, really. Cut, finished stone is a favorite among many contemporary Houston homeowners. Resin and fiberglass also make excellent building materials for smaller fountains used to decorate small courtyard gardens or private patio gardens. This is done to emulate stone or concrete in an environment that cannot support a great deal of weight.

Another very popular construction method is to blend either copper or steel with some kind of stone. The combinations of texture and color that result from such blends are nearly infinite.

How large are these fountains?
They can range in size from very small, simple structures surrounding by a few stepping stones and boxwoods to sizes large enough for children to play in. Contemporary design is one of our favorite styles of landscaping, period; because it is so subjective by nature that customization is never a problem.

Whatever you want your fountain to look like, we can build it to order, and we can make it work with your landscape master plan either as the central hub of attraction and outdoor living, or as a supportive, minor element in a more complex and grand design.

Tranquil Fountains

The poets tell us that a tranquil fountain soothes the soul. It does so by enchanting the eye and ear. As with all water fountains, tranquil water fountains are wonderful additions to any home landscape design. Exterior Worlds designs tranquil fountains to work a special magic by drowning out the unwanted and annoying noises of modern life without overwhelming the space.

Design is paramount with tranquil fountains. In designing this type of water fountain, your chosen site needs to be conducive to a dripping, slow flow of water. You want the water action to relate to the scale of the space.

As for application, one location for a tranquil water fountain is to design it as an exterior wall fountain. Wall fountains, which come in many different shapes and sizes, are perfect for small or oddly-shaped sites. Our clients have put them in such places as on a brick garden wall, as part of a retaining wall or to enliven a blank fence.

Versatile elements within the landscaping lexicon, tranquil water fountains work well in a range of garden styles, from small garden designs to tropical landscaping. When landscaping for entertainment, a tranquil fountain will delight your guests. For traditional landscapes, a classic urn design works beautifully.

Tranquil water fountains have a place in commercial landscaping, too, such as in restaurants, courtyards, atriums and interior commercial spaces when you don’t want voluminous water sounds and movement to overpower your clientele. For open and airy sites, such as building entrances and golf courses, large-scale fountains are more appropriate.

It is good to keep in mind that there is no one way to design or build a water fountain. You can choose among the many different approaches that will achieve your desired outcome, tranquil or otherwise. Working with open-minded professionals as you will find at Exterior Worlds, who possess technical skills and creative flair, is one of your more important decisions when installing a water fountain.

You will also want to consider a related aspect for your fountain, which is proper exterior lighting. Landscape lighting extends a water fountain’s attraction into the nighttime hours. Depending on your preferences, Exterior Worlds can design it to play up its inherent dramatic effects or accentuate the peaceful ambiance of moving water. Lights also add a safety factor, which is crucial around any water feature.

Water elements, in general, create special focal points in your custom landscaping design by providing movement and creating delightful sounds. Ponds create texture, color and depth. Waterfalls have a mesmerizing quality that is uniquely their own. Moving water adds mysteriously pleasing background music.

It feels somehow right to acknowledge that humans and water are connected at our most basic level. There is just something powerful, helpful and healing about it. Some cultures have codified that feeling, such as several Southwestern Native American cultures where you will find the belief that you should be near moving water whenever you contemplate an important decision. Moving water calms the heart, steadies the breathing, and captivates the mind’s eye, which, when you think about it, is a powerful state of being in which to decide nearly anything.

Exterior Worlds provides upscale landscaping services, such as custom water fountain designs, installations and maintenance, to fine neighborhoods in the Houston area. Call 713-827-2255 for a private consultation.

What is the art of water?

What is the art of water?
It is the use of water features to beautify a landscape

What features make water art and not just water?
The art of water depends partly on movement. When mobile and fluid, water gives the mind a feeling of being freed from form and rigid constructs. To maintain a sense of artistry, however, fluidity must be focused. Some type of geometric boundary or structure is necessary to lend aesthetic to the scene at hand. When these two elements are combined proportionally, the art of water then functions to compliment and reflect both organic and inorganic landscape elements. Vegetation looks more supported by the very stuff of life itself, and architecture becomes more dynamic and preeminent as it is reflected from a variety of angles that magnify its preeminence and sense of proportion.

How does the art of water support architecture?
Fountains are very important elements to landscape architecture. As masonry forms, they mirror the geometry of homes, patios, and outdoor buildings. As water moves out of these structures, it gives life and emergence to these forms. Putting lights in a fountain adds an even greater dimension to the scene.

Reflecting pools and infinity ponds create mirrored surfaces that actually reflect the forms of buildings. Structures then take on new significance, and smaller landscapes can be made to look much larger and complete with this effect.

How does the art of water support softscape?
The art of water is essential to creating a landscape that looks like Nature, so to speak. Even in the driest parts of the world there are rivers, oases, and beaches, so few topographies exist that do not have water somewhere in the scenery. When we create a backyard landscape to represent a wilderness area, elements like natural pools play a very critical role in establishing a sense of getaway from the big city. Streams and waterfalls are two other designs that can be added to a backyard to add a sense of movement and freedom.

More refined European garden designs can be customized by adding water features. Fountains can be placed at the heart of small parterre gardens, for example, in order to magnify their sense of proportion and aesthetic impact. Koi ponds can occupy the central positions of entry garden courtyards. Waterfalls can actually be built to act as lighted walls at night and separate one portion of the landscape from the rest, or even one property from adjacent yards. The art of water in these landscape designs always helps to create a sense life energy that is emerging, dynamic, organic, and diverse.

What landscape designs benefit the most from the art of water?
While the art of water is used in every landscape master plan to some degree, its greatest benefits are seen in contemporary and modern landscape designs. In contemporary landscape design, we find an aesthetic that is extremely mentalist, mathematical, and abstract. Vegetation is scarcer in this landscape style than in any other aesthetic. Consequently, since organic life is minimized, the stuff of life itself—water—is often used as a substitute for vegetation.

Custom fountain work is therefore very important to both commercial and contemporary residential landscapes. In patio design, it adds vertical presence to a horizontal plane. In other areas of the yard, such as the central entryway to the front yard, or in a special seating area in the back yard, contemporary fountains create movement and a feeling of vitality without having to deviate from an essentially inorganic design form.

Modern landscape design is not quite so abstract or inorganic as contemporary landscape design. There is more vegetation, particularly in styles like modern tropical gardens. The art of water here not only adds a sense of life, but it also provides linkage between living elements and nonliving structures. Modern garden décor will often call for a blend of high-grade material constructs, such as glass walls and steel columns, surrounding by plants of various species. Turning the glass wall into the backdrop for a waterfall fountain is a good example of what we mean by water becoming more than water, transforming itself aesthetically into the literal art of water.

Modern Water Gardens

Modern water gardens create a feeling of life in the realm of the abstract and mathematical. The intent of anything modern and contemporary is to emphasize the preeminence of man above the forces of nature. Since Nature is associated with greenery in collective consciousness, the presence of greenery in a modern water garden must be very selective—or even minimized—in places. Hard straight lines, abrupt intersections, and linear movements that fan out at times into radiuses (half circle constructions) establish a stark, Spartan view of the world. Water reduces the sense of life to its most raw and elemental base, and outcroppings of greenery strategically placed within the form indicated potentials of emergence more so than lush realities of organic comforts.

Modern water gardens are ideal centerpieces for courtyards and atriums. They create a focal point of fluidity within form that captivates attention and lends itself to tranquility and relaxation. In commercial environments, we build a lot of these in break areas. Colleges and universities will also hire us to build study areas around these gardens to give their students an alternative to the cloister of cubicles and library walls. Fountains are very commonly built within these structures to complete the feeling of a meditative environment where time has been removed from the present moment.

Water features are often constructed of natural stones like granite that have been quarried, shaped, and polished to a high degree of sophistication. The shells and copings around modern gardens often gleam as brightly as the water they contain. Quarried slabs of granite can be laid in symmetrical patterns to create any number of geometric shapes. Rectangular gardens can be built alongside of homes, architectural walls, or as “visual bridges” between major landscape design elements. Functionality can be built into these structures in the form of patio seating areas, sidewalk structures, and stepping stone walkways that move across the surface of the water. Linear modern water gardens in these instances can actually define progressions of physical movement as well as the movement of the eye.

This opens the door for the modern water garden to be the focal point of events in a modern landscape design. By bringing the gathering to the edge of the water, one defines the tone of the activity with the sophisticated aesthetic of polished stones, flowing water, gravel, small trees, and geometric plantings of dark green vegetation and sprinklings of coloration produced by controlled plantings of flowering plants. The most popular color in these gardens is white because it provides an excellent complement to the colors of stones and gravel and a superb contrast as well to the dark greens of boxwoods, mondo grass, and other dark green colors. Light green vegetation is normally avoided because it is a bit too lively for the controlled setting we are looking to create in these environments.

Water features always have a streamlined appearance. Flow is quite thanks to silent pumps and hidden mechanisms move the water in a linear progression from one end of the structure to the other. This keeps the modern water garden from appearing too forced in its mentalist, absolute design. Water that flows like a stream or waterfall softens the surrounding features of rock, gravel, polished coping, and custom fountain design with a soothing fluidity that brings a sense of harmony to the mix of hardscape and accent softscape elements that surround it. This, again, makes for an ideal gathering place on any contemporary landscape where conversation, celebration, and appreciation all flow together into the same emotional stream.

Disappearing Fountains

True to their names, disappearing fountains bring water up to dance around the landscape for a bit, and then quietly disappears into some mysterious hidden place underground. These special custom fountains are intended to be highly unique and personal structures tucked away in secluded parts of the yard. Their uniqueness makes them favored centerpieces of any morning garden, reading area, or meditation space built just for the homeowners themselves.

The primary difference between a disappearing fountain and some other fountain design is the absence of a basin. Instead, the water flows into a below grade pit. The elevation of this pit is set by carefully measuring the slope of the surrounding landscape. We may have to dig out a lower, level area in order to get to just the right needed for optimal water flow.

Once the water starts pouring out of the fountainhead, it flows down the sides into this catch pit and filters through the cracks between special materials used to line the pit. If we want to set a European tone, we can spread gravel here, like we did in the morning garden project found in our case histories. If we want a more wilderness feel, stones will be substituted for gravel.

Maybe too we can integrate this form into more intentional and linear landscaping designs, such as Italian gardens, or even the highly abstract realm contemporary landscape design. In these instances, bricks or pavers are often laid down in the catch pit..

In such instances, one thing is common regardless of the materials ultimately chosen. The water disappears. It is that simple, and in that simplicity lies the true beauty of this fountain. Watching the water simply flow between stones or bricks or even slabs of hardscape seems to produce almost a hypnotic effect on the mind.

But what happens to the water then?

It goes into an underground chamber through hidden slots under the filtration layer. A remote pump circulates the water through the system; pushing it back to the fountain head and returning it to the surface world to continue the visible portion of its cycle. The actual fountain itself can be anything from a geometric structure, a mythological deity, or something rudimentary like a piece of pottery or special urn that has been drilled out to accommodate the flow of water.

What we ultimately choose here will be based to a large extent on considerations such as how it looks in relation to the backdrop of the home, how it fits into garden landscape design, and how it juxtapositions itself with nearby hardscapes and outdoor buildings.

Pond Landscape Design

Pond landscape design can work as a style in its own respect or function as part of a more complex landscaping design such as a Japanese garden or tropical garden. In either instance, pond landscape design occupies a central position to all or part of the yard. Centrism helps contribute to the feeling that one is looking at a natural scene instead of something merely manmade. Ponds in the wild lie in the center of clearings or high in the mountains between peaks. Centrally locating a pond in the middle of your yard gives it this same sense of convergence and isolation.

The water should be surrounded by ledges and greenery in order to draw attention to it. This is often overlooked by amateur landscapers who attempt pond design without the proper awareness needed to correctly build such a deceptively simple structure. Any body of water that is merely a depression in the ground not only looks unnatural, but it also looks depressing. You have to add a vertical element and some lush, green vegetation transforms to give it a sense of life and vitality.

An even more powerful sense of vitality can be added by constructing a waterfall that runs into the pond. Running water carries with it a powerful calming influence on the human mind. Waterfalls are constructed using special silent pumps and all natural materials (such as small boulders or limestone) to make them look identical to those found in the mountains.

A pond should either have an earth bottom or a gunite bottom covered in a layer of earth that makes it look natural. Since most residential pond landscape design deals with a limited amount of space, the earth bottom ponds we normally find in municipal parks and large corporate campuses are impractical for a back yard element. They tend to silt up too quickly and present serious flood threats when heavy rains suddenly strike.

A concrete bottom covered with a natural substance like earth or rock works much better for residential landscaping. It is more reliable from a functional and emergency drainage perspective, but it is concealed behind all natural materials.

Landscape lighting is absolutely vital to pond landscape design. At night, no one can see the water or the greenery surrounding it without some sort of lighting. Special down lights can be mounted all around the bank to ensure that the surface of the water is clearly visible from all vantage points. If a waterfall is present, we typically install underwater lights behind the falls to illuminate the flowing water from within and create a prism of colors as the light refracts outward in all directions.

Water Wall Fountain

Exterior Worlds custom builds wall fountains for clients seeking to add dimensions, decorative flair, and a serene sensibility to specific outdoor areas devoted to special conversation of moments of contemplation. These custom-built structures are very different from the retail forms sold in home and garden store fronts. They are made from superior-grade materials, and they work as compliments to surrounding landscape elements as well as elements in their own respect.

Wall fountains are built vertically into walls. On an aesthetic level, they add a very unique decorative presence that creates a sense of special space around itself. On a functional level, they work to set aside a portion of the landscape as a place of tranquility and contemplation. Wall fountains are frequently used as terminal points for axial gardens. They are also commonly constructed near morning gardens, private patios, or garden areas based on Eastern forms representative of meditation and inner peace.

Regardless of where they are constructed, wall fountains always play a very significant role in décor. Fountains of any kind add an attraction factor to the landscape. However, when a fountain is built directly into a vertical wall, an extra sense of dimension is created by the expansion of wall space into the interior of a courtyard or landscape. These walls do not have to be brick or stone, either. Technically speaking, the interior of a swimming pool is a wall, and a fountain built into the structure of the pool and illuminated with appropriate light sourcing adds a sense of special luxury and artistic environment to one of the most popular areas of the yard.

Wall fountains are typically veneered with tile, stone, brick, or glass that can be illuminated to stand out at night. The interiors design of these structures is equally sophisticated as well. Unlike generic retail models, they have to be carefully constructed for silent operation. In many respects, they are built much like swimming pools. They must be fitted with filters, auto fills, interior lighting, plaster, tile, and skimmers. Almost all are built around a gunite basin to ensure years of reliable operability. Without exception, pumps are remotely installed in order to ensure silent operation.

Wall fountains can be built to reflect any style of landscaping design. Some are designed to intentionally fill the entire vertical space with a specific geometric theme that mirrors home architecture and general landscaping style. Others are designed to mimic forms of mythological beings, angelic figures, or objects found in nature. These images are normally chosen by the homeowner according to personal tastes, beliefs, or artistic interests.

While we may design these forms with some of the same motifs, images, and symbols as the ones used in retail fountains, we never replicate the generic in our work. In fact, we do not build these fountains as stand-alone elements or add-ons to yards. Our work is custom-built to support general landscaping themes, or to add a special nuance to a specific area of interest or outdoor structure.

Modern Water Fountains

Modern architecture and landscaping rely heavily on geometry to convey abstract ideas. The intention is to create a world of thought by combining and morphing basic designs in new patterns that are clearly human in origin. Water fountains in these landscapes must support this intention with a clear departure from their traditionally ornamental appearance. Modern water fountains tend to feature either an emphasis on circular forms or sharp angles that support the eclectic elements of modern home design and suggest an altered reality based purely in the mind of man.

The most important thing to realize about modern water fountains is their absolute importance to contemporary landscaping. They are never used as secondary elements in such a setting. Instead, these fountains are central features to any modern landscape design. They are typically built in front yards to introduce the geometric themes of home architecture. In back yards, they are frequently constructed as central elements of custom patios, being built directly into the concrete, limestone, or stonework itself. Modern landscapers tend to avoid building these fountains too close to vegetation, and deliberately integrate them either directly into hardscapes, or construct them adjacent to hardscapes. Sometimes they are also built on the sides of walls in the framing area between the patio and the garden, although the structure and water itself even in these settings is separate from the organic elements of the design.

It may seem strange to many people that modern landscapers would deliberately avoid separating water from vegetation and instead make it a central feature of hardscape design. In order to understand why this is done, we have to pause for a moment and think about the very nature of modern design. Unlike other forms of design which rely heavily on materials and patterns taken directly from nature, modern landscaping intentionally seeks to depart from nature’s boundaries by establishing forms and patterns that are quite often stark, abstract, or downright shocking to the eye. This is done to emphasize the complexities of human thought processes and the often jumbled emotional states that lie buried within the subconscious mind beneath the surface levels of thought. Water has always been a symbol for spirituality or unconscious emotion, so it makes both practical and aesthetic sense to integrate its presence into a design style whose purpose is an exploration of consciousness itself.

Building these fountains separate and apart from gardens and vegetation further helps to promote the ideal of individuation. What was once a free-flowing and universal symbol that existed without boundaries now appears contained and limited in man-made geometric forms and structures of concrete and glass. Not only is this theme reinforced by the position of the fountain, but also by the material from which it is built. Modern landscapers normally select a material whose texture are exceptionally smooth and deviates from the traditional appearance of stone. Most water fountains designed in this style will consequently look shiny, translucent, or dull, depending on what most appropriately compliments surrounding elements. Lighting is a key element, both within a modern water fountain and around its exterior form. This allows it to be seen at any time, day or night, and further punctuates its significance after sunset, when it is often the most visible element on the property other than the home itself.

Outdoor swimming pool design

Outdoor swimming pool design is a very exciting aspect of landscape architecture. When guests visit, they invariably want to go to the pool. Regardless of whether or not they plan to swim, tan, or gather around the patio for conversation, it is essential to get the pool installed correctly. As an almost immediate extension of the human living experience, swimming pool design must, above everything else, respect home. Its size must be proportional to the house, and its surrounding patio must likewise compliment the surrounding yard. In order to get so many things right, it is best to have professional landscape architects conceptualize, initiate, and develop outdoor swimming pool design from start to finish.

This is because the professional landscape architect has higher criteria for outdoor swimming pool design than the ones pool companies typically specify. There are a number of details that can only be addressed by a landscaping company that visualizes the entire property as a unified whole. Considerations such as the elevation of the water and the depth of each can only be made accurately estimated by the professionals who sculpt the terrain itself. Pool contractors have not been trained in landscaping will often lower these specifications to save clients money on outdoor swimming pool design. This does not pay off in the long run. While costs are saved in the short term, aesthetics are compromised in the long term.

Landscape architects would rather people they ultimately want rather than take financial shortcuts that will ultimately lead to a dissatisfied homeowner. We work with many people with a sense of outdoor luxury, for example, who want to have their swimming pool designed with more than one water feature. Such things as water jets, fountains, artificial waterfalls, and even heated spas can all be incorporated into the design specifications of a swimming pool. This actually saves the client money because installing all these water features as separate elements requires additional materials and contract labor than it does to incorporate them into the pool.

When a professional landscape design services firm oversees and manages outdoor swimming pool design, everybody wins that the end of the day. The landscaper will draw up detailed plans for the pool and show the homeowner exactly how it will function in the new landscape. The pool company will then apply its expertise to building a structure that functions reliably and safely without mishap or mechanical failure. When the finished product is complete, the new custom swimming pool, lit brilliantly with underwater lighting, will look superb in relation to trees, gardens, statuary, arbors, and outdoor rooms.

Pool Water Fountains

For those of you who are thinking about building a custom swimming pool in your landscaping design, we have a suggestion for you: also consider the addition of a pool water fountain. Over the past few years, a trend has emerged within home and landscape design in which home base is being outfitted to become a retreat and sanctuary from an over-busy, over-full outside world. A pool water fountain is a landscape feature that perfectly fulfills that role. We have seen pool water fountains turn an average swimming pool into something memorable, a true work of art complete with movement, sound, shape and color.

Pool water fountains are fountains that are in or connected to a larger body of water. We get a great deal of pleasure from custom-designing these vehicles of enchanting, vibrant form into our customers’ landscape design. One of our favorite designs is a fountain wall, anywhere from 2-feet to 8-feet tall, with water falling out of a weir, or opening, made of brick, stone or stainless steel. These wall fountains create impressive backdrops for sculpture and planters. Other highly-regarded designs we have installed include rock waterfalls, sprays of shooting water coming out of the pool coping, and decorative vessels—classical shapes such as Grecian urns or playful ones shaped like fish—mounted on the pool deck.

These pool fountains not only add a special aesthetic to a pool; we have seen them provide very practical benefits, as well. If you have children, this fountain type eliminates the need to cordon off another body of water. They eliminate redundancies such as drain lines and chemical treatments for two separate water elements. They also cut down on the common problem with stand-alone water fountains called over-spray. That is, water spraying out of the fountain onto your patio pavers, wooden deck, or concrete patio and creating a slippery surface. With pool water fountains, the water splashes harmlessly into the larger body of water.

For years, Exterior Worlds has been producing luxurious and highly personalized signature designs. This experience allows us to bring to the table a focus on the scale and design that is appropriate for your home and landscape. Additionally, we have the expertise to do the job right from the very beginning. We discuss with our clients the unseen features of professional landscaping, such as using the right valves so that you can adjust the water flow to your liking or installing custom stone work to hide unsightly hardware. We perform this careful pre-planning so that you don’t end up with a conspicuous problem in the end result.

Our staff begins the design process by listening closely to your preferences, needs and desires. We help you focus on questions such as—do you prefer natural forms like waterfalls or the sparseness of contemporary designs? What type of landscape lighting will bring you the most pleasure, work with the water features and other garden structures? From there, we carefully consider your home’s architecture, the topography of your lot and any existing hardscapes—as we do with all our landscaping architecture projects.

Fire and Water Fountains

If you were to rate the many garden structures and hardscapes used by landscape architects along a horizontal scale, fire and water fountains would be situated on the far right—where the big wow-factors live. Fire and water fountains place two opposing forces together to make striking artistic statements in a landscape design. This type of fountain is especially compatible in modern landscape designs. The water portion can even be designed as a contemporary water fountain. The fire merely gives it that much more appeal.

Fire and water fountains make memorable garden designs in homes where entertainment is a recurring activity. Guests definitely remember the party that had such flair—and flare. They also have commercial applications, especially for restaurants, clubs and other entities that conduct business at night.

Exterior Worlds has designed and installed this fountain type for many clients in and around the Houston area. A sampling from our portfolio: we designed a fountain for a client where we built a fire and water model as part of a pool water fountain. A smaller urn that holds the fire element sits in the middle of a classically shaped fountain. This pool water fountain was placed to the side of a custom swimming pool and the fountain water merges into it. For another client, we created a stand-alone fountain that was carved from a large travertine block. The gas and water lines run up through the urn. As the vessel fills with water, the water spills over the edges of the urn, creating pleasing movement and sound. A gas ring is mounted right above the water line and, when lit, the fire appears to be sitting on top of the water.

In addition to outdoor water fountains, we produce highly personalized signature designs for all your landscaping needs. We provide our clients with a focus on scale and style that is imperative when designing something as remarkable and complicated as a fire and water fountain.

At Exterior Worlds, we have the skill and expertise to do the job right from the very beginning, something we’ve proven since 1987. In all our professional landscaping projects, we perform careful pre-planning so that you don’t end up with any disappointing problems in the final product. We stay committed to our founding principles of providing our clients with the best possible service, selection, quality and value. Our goal is to create for you unforgettable luxury without any sacrifice to style or convenience.

In nearly every civilization since time began, humans have been fascinated by the interplay between fire and water. Many elaborate myths from different societies use these two primal elements as major characters. Modern humans have not changed all that much. Fire still enchants. Water still fascinates. With fire and water fountains, our goal is to make a water element that is pure attraction. These fountains are particularly stunning at night and so we pay careful attention to the appropriate landscape lighting. Further, we will be with you every step of the way—from conception to completion.

Contemporary water fountains

Contemporary water fountains have a look and feel that is au courant and timeless, innovative and stylish. In general, contemporary design means spare and simple geometries arranged in a pleasing, functional way. This design style uses dramatic shapes to create a point of view that is both natural and fluid. We believe these descriptors apply to contemporary water fountains, too.

With contemporary water fountain and garden design, the focus tends to be on scale in contrast to the axial relationships commonly found in formal landscape designs. In a modern landscape design, the designer’s hand is typically very evident. Perhaps you will notice that the boundaries between areas of color, textures and shapes are undefined. Conversely, you may find the opposite true with sharply drawn lines. Composition and color ignite an emotional response. It is that juxtaposition—linear and non-linear, hard and soft, energetic and restrained—that is the essence of modern landscape design.

Exterior Worlds specializes in creating one-of-a-kind fountain designs that will not only enhance your property’s value, but will also provide you, the homeowner, with the 24 hour pleasure of moving, soothing, beautifully-lit water. With our contemporary water fountain designs, we want to point out that modern design techniques do not have to imply a high-tech look. For instance, you can make use of horizontal and vertical planes to create a modern sculpture effect and then let your other landscaping choices, like materials, color and plantings, provide a warm, welcoming feel.

We also encourage our clients to remember that, more than with any other type of fountain design, it is imperative that the modern style blends and complements the architecture of the home and existing landscape. Otherwise, the imagery is too jarring.

Concrete, steel, metals and glass are good material choices within the modern landscape design. In some of our designs, we have left the materials, such as stone, metal, plastics, steel and glass, in a raw or exposed state. The resulting beauty is a metaphor of nature and humans working together to create something artful—for instance, the way steel rusts to a warm, burnt patina.

In particular, concrete has won top honors in the contemporary garden design lexicon, primarily due to its hardiness and malleability. Its cool, gray color fits perfectly into the sparse detailing found in this style. If you use concrete in your contemporary water fountain design, you can extend that material theme by using concrete in a simple garden structure or as the flooring of your patio design.

As with all outdoor water fountains, lighting can be used to heighten a fountain’s extant loveliness and liveliness. We actually think lighting is critical for the full enjoyment of your investment in a water fountain, just as proper landscape lighting brings your entire landscape architecture to full fruition.

Exterior Worlds delivers landscape solutions that are tailored especially to meet your needs and desires. Further, we pride ourselves on our commitment to the customer and to excellence. Therefore, all of our designs are custom-made—nothing is pre-fabricated. Our goal is to create a special atmosphere in your landscape design, one that is design conscious, polished and impeccable.

Large water fountains

Large water fountains are designed to attract attention. You could even say that they demand attention. In the right setting, they create a certain ambiance that is meditative and pleasurable. With their playful movement of water, the pleasing auditory effect and a certified timeless beauty, they are emotional eye-catchers for a serious homeowners’ landscape design.

At Exterior Worlds, we define a large water fountain as one that ranges from about 10-feet by 10-feet up to 30-feet by 30-feet. This size means they are perfect for a commercial application or a large-scale home and can make your property even more impressive. Large water fountains come in a variety of styles and shapes, including Roman classicism, a Hill Country natural pool or as part of a Japanese garden design, perhaps alongside a koi pond.

Humans have been fascinated by water fountains for eons and go back to the earliest fine homes. They are recurrent features of Greek and Roman homes and the corresponding gardens, most notably Mediterranean landscape design and classical landscape design. Ever since then, the construction elements—stone, water and light—have made a highly personal artistic statement even as they evoke archetypal responses.

Outdoor water fountains provide a respite, a time and place of relaxation in which to disengage from the hectic daily schedule. Our clients find that fountains, large and small, bring a calming element into their exterior landscape. The homeowners may begin their day by sitting by the moving water and contemplating what lies ahead, with all its varied opportunities and challenges. Or they may close out the busy day beside the fountain, letting the splash and movement of the water calm and soothe them.

All outdoor water fountains benefit from proper landscape lighting, something we believe is critical. From a practical standpoint, it is important to light them so no one accidentally falls into them at night. Aesthetically speaking, moving water that is well-lit becomes mesmerizing. Beautifully-lit water is a joy to look at and provides a note of tranquility.

Exterior Worlds both designs and builds custom water fountains. We pride ourselves on doing the job right the first time around so that you don’t end up with a fountain plagued with problems. Believe us when we say that we have seen more than one fountain eventually turned into a large planter. Our expertise includes the unseen, but important and necessary, features used in professional landscaping, such as positioning dimmer valves within water fountains that allow you to adjust the water flow to your preference or the use of custom stone work to hide the fountain’s nuts and bolts.

All of our large water fountains are custom-designed and custom-built. Because everything is built on-site, nothing is pre-fabricated. Our design services include helping you with the placement of the fountain so that it blends into and complements your property—perhaps a custom swimming pool, an outdoor room, a welcoming courtyard, a private patio design and any other hardscapes. We provide high-end landscape design services for a discriminating clientele and truly believe that what is in your best interest is also in our best interest.

Outdoor water fountains

Our landscape needs a special focal point. What does Exterior Worlds suggest?

Outdoor water fountains make a stylish statement about your home by creating a refined ambiance. Typically, each fountain is different and therefore an original. It is like building a working piece of art into your landscape. You can use them to enhance the architectural style of your house. They can be designed to be played in, thus providing welcome relief during Houston’s infamous summer season. In these technological times, fountains are quite functional, serving as camouflage for annoying traffic and loud air-conditioning units.

While there are many ways to design and build a fountain, during the typical design process, the scope of the work is defined and a budget developed. Cost factors include material choices, ongoing maintenance contracts, and integration with hardscapes such as custom patios, seat walls, retaining walls, steps etc..

We advise our clients that building a custom outdoor water fountain appears to be like building a swimming pool, but is actually more difficult. It takes practical know-how and experience to avoid common mistakes when designing or constructing one. We work with our clients to provide as much information as possible to insure that their fountain is the success they deserve.

What are some of the designs outdoor water fountains come in?

You can find them in a variety of shapes, sizes and styles, such as Roman, Moorish or Asian-influenced. Additional features can be added, such as a waterfall or a contemporary wall fountain. Whatever style you prefer, be sure to pick a fountain that fits your home and garden landscape.

Designing your own fountains may be more expensive than choosing a prefabricated ones, but our clients have enjoyed these long-term benefits:

• A common problem of ready-mades is “over-spray” or water coming out of the fountain. This malfunction creates subsequent problems, such as the area near the fountain becoming slippery or moldy, the fountain running out of water, and discoloration of the adjacent materials due to chlorination.

A custom-built fountain addresses these problems during the design process.

• Custom-built fountains can be constructed with special features, almost none of which are available on prefabricated fountains. Enhancements include overflow release valves to drain excess water, auto-fill lines to maintain the water level, skimmers, filters, lights, auto-chlorinators and backwash lines (for easy cleaning).

• Custom-built fountains can be built much bigger than prefabricated ones, which is important when working with the scale of some homes and buildings.

What can Exterior Worlds tell us about the materials they are made of?

Many outdoor water fountains are constructed with tile, marble, rock, natural stone, and polished. Other popular choices include stone masonry products such as sandstone, limestone, brick, and concrete blocks. The basins that act as a reservoir are typically made with gunite and rebar, and then plastered—as found with a swimming pool. These interior surfaces are sometimes re-surfaced with stone, pebbles or mosaics. Your process of selection should begin with materials that work in the Houston area. These materials need to handle our climate’s extreme sunlight, rain and other natural elements.

Custom Fountain Design

Custom fountains are designed to fulfill a special role in a specific portion of the landscape. They are developed in accordance with a comprehensive landscaping plan that establishes the theme and tone of the landscape, and they play a major role as individual elements in relationship to the whole. Each one must stand alone as an individual work of art that extends its aesthetic into its surroundings to the extent that it represents an experience and a state of mind.

One of the most exciting things we have always loved about custom fountain design is the sheer joy of creating a functioning work of art. Fountains are dynamic elements, contributing both sound and motion to an otherwise static landscape. In the day, they add tranquility to the landscape that offers a refuge from the busy, stressful world outside. Many people even begin their day sitting on a special patio near such a fountain. They find that the subtle nuances of how the water falls, drips, and splashes back into itself bring them a sense of peace and uncertainty in a troubled and uncertain world. At night, special lighting can transform ornament and sound into a magical display of illuminated liquid form.In a very real sense, custom fountain design involves a special recreation of certain archetypal forms (stone, water, and light) in a highly personalized fashion that speaks to a number of considerations at once. First and foremost, as with all landscaping architecture, we must make certain that the basic physical structure of the fountain compliment the architecture of the home. We must also make certain that basic geometric patterns that we use to build the structure are also reflective to a certain extent of the organic geometry of gardens, outdoor buildings, and other water features. There is a great deal to consider when making these oftentimes very difficult design decisions. Will a custom fountain work best as a linear trough, a multi-tiered design, or something completely abstract built into an avant garde or highly contemporary landscape? Does the water need to come up or pour down? Will the fountain be designed as part of another structure, such as a pond or custom swimming pool? Should the lighting be concentrated on only the water, or on the entirety of the unit? If he client wishes the fountain to be adjustable to some extent, what mechanisms will we install to adjust the height of the water, or vary the intensity of lighting?

The answers to many of these questions are going to initially be based on client preference, need, and desire. It is our policy to respect the wishes of the homeowners and give them an end result that truly satisfies their expectations. It is also our responsibility to make certain that the fulfillment of these expectations is done in accordance with sound professional principles. Custom fountain design may appear to be a simple matter of building a shell with a decorative bottom and coping, but it is much more complex in reality. Masking the sound of the pump is often the greatest challenge that do-it-yourselfers and amateur landscapers normally run into. Managing debris that falls into the fountain is another problem. Pumps and filters have to be carefully designed not only to run silently, but to be protected as much as possible from foreign elements that can and do find their way into the water.

Professional landscapers know how to find the answers to all of questions we have looked at today, and they know how to mask the mechanical and the functional behind the aesthetic and the ambient. While the investment required for custom fountain design is significantly higher than purchasing a premade unit, the return on investment that comes through superior longevity and more robust functionality and aesthetic represent both tangibles and intangibles that nothing short of the best can ever provide.

Houston Custom Swimming Pools

When we use the term “custom swimming pool” we are using it in a slightly different way than pool construction companies use it. In our mind, a custom swimming pool is one that has specifically designed as an integral component of the landscape, home, and the lifestyle of the resident. In all honesty, we also are very up front with the fact that this means spending more money than you normally would if you went directly to a pool contractor. Due to the higher level of detail that goes into planning a custom swimming pool as part of a master landscaping plan, a higher investment will be required. However, you will ultimately be satisfied when you realize your return on investment in the form of a higher level of functionality and aesthetics relative to the appearance of the home, additional outdoor structures, gardens, and special vegetation forms.

Creating a custom swimming pool takes more than just picking out a style. When landscaping architects work with pool contractors, they actually act as liaisons between homeowners and pool specialists. They create a master plan for the whole property, and then they develop the pool around the topography, needs of the homeowner, and pay close attention to the need to respect the architecture of the home. A great deal of our consulting process involves taking a very close look at your intentions and desires for outdoor space in general. Getting a clear picture of how a swimming pool can play a role in fulfilling these specifics helps us to better communicate a clear picture of value to the pool company that more tightly focuses their expertise and streamlines it into ours.

This is much more to your advantage in the long run, because the highly specialized nature of custom swimming pools requires pool companies to focus on the pools themselves, not necessarily how those pools reflect and compliment surrounding landscape design. We are not saying that pool companies only think of their own benefit, but instead that pool companies only of its benefit often lack the background in architecture and landscaping needed to fully integrate their work into the surrounding exterior designs.

We therefore set criteria very high for custom swimming pools. We consider details like the elevation of the water and the how deep each step is as it relates to surrounding terrain, patios, structures, and vegetation. Our intention is to create a smooth transition from outdoor space to pool space, be it in the water or out of the water. Many times contractors will not be so precise in their designs. They will try to meet the homeowner at a point of budget by lowering these types of specifications.

However, in the long run, we believe that the interests of the homeowner are better served by placing cost at a level of secondary importance to the overall quality of the pool, its many elements, and its ultimate impact on the landscape. Every factor such as rebar spacing, wall thickness, and the professional installation of lighting to minimize glare luminance are factors we carefully assess, specify, and meticulously bid. Other custom swimming pool elements are developed in accordance with personal preference and homeowner lifestyle. Many designs are very innovative, such as natural swimming pools and pools surrounded by grass patios. Some feature unique elements like fountain jets, cut stone drain covers, and spas.

Outdoor Design

Is outdoor design the same thing as landscaping?

It is a complimentary, but also a very separate discipline. While outdoor design does pay close attention to the standard landscaping elements of fountains, gardens, and ornamentation, it also adds a much more robust aesthetic that extends residential living space from the interior of the house into the surrounding greenery. This is much more complex than creating landscapes that compliment architecture. It is actually a synthesis of landscape and architecture, earth and brick, light and water.

Only a few companies exist in the world of landscaping offer this type of service to the homeowner, and Exterior Worlds is premier among them.

What are the primary elements of outdoor design?

Outdoor designs consist of manmade and natural elements. It requires the systematic creation of separate elements that flow together one single, harmonious aesthetic. Most of these elements can only be created by artisan contractors specializing in that particular science. A few examples include the following features commonly installed in and around custom home landscapes:

• Swimming Pools

• Water Fountains

• Outdoor Lights

• Patios

• Outdoor Kitchens

• Masonry and decorative stone work

• Ornamental iron fencing

Can I create my own outdoor design?

We do not recommend this. It will be very difficult for you to find all the various experts in the above specialties and forge a cohesive team that functions as a unit. Contractors in any discipline work in very specific ways and are very schematic-oriented. Without a landscape plan managed by an overseeing, landscape general contractor such as Exterior Worlds, it is difficult to communicate the ultimate intent of the outdoor design to one or subcontracted entities.

The various components of any outdoor design must by laid down correctly in layer in order to create a sense of blend and harmony with the architecture of the house and Nature itself. Attempting to coordinate this without experience in architecture, remodeling, landscaping, and specialty disciplines, is like making lasagna with all the proper ingredients, but not knowing how to create the correct size and arrangement of the many layers that constitute its form.

Instead, we recommend that homeowners contract Exterior Worlds to act as general contractors and project coordinators.

What advantages do you offer as a overseeing, general contractor?

We will first develop a landscape plan which you participate in creating and ultimately approve. We the handle the basic elements of outdoor designs that are specific to landscaping with our in-house crews, and next bring in whatever appropriate subcontractors are required to complete the specifics of the project.

This is exactly how large, general contractors work in construction and other commercial markets, only we do it on an individual level for private homeowners in a special niche market. We know who in our business network are the best home builders, architects, pool specialists, lighting designers, pond and fountain companies, and masons to call on for a particular project. By then systematizing the entire outdoor design process from start to finish much like an assembly line functions, we can ensure both the fine details and the overall outcome exceed homeowner expectations without delay or unforeseen and costly mistakes.

Call us now for a free estimate.

Natural Swimming Pool

In 2003, a couple named Ashcroft contacted us and asked if we could do something about their swimming pool. Both the house and the pool had been built almost side by side in the 1940s. The pool featured the erstwhile popular “lagoon style”, which is still in use today by some of the world’s larger, tropical resorts. Since moving in, however, the Ashcroft’s had always felt this design was too ostentatious. What they wanted was the feeling of the tropics more in the form of a personal paradise, not a backyard tourist zone.

We agreed with their sentiment. Their property was much more suited to a natural swimming pool design than either the lagoon style or the standard design. The land was located on the side of a hill that sloped down toward a ravine, and the house was built about 40 feet back from the road. In order to redesign the pool into something that looked more natural, we had to strip the entire structure down to its shell and build a retaining wall to offset the grade of the land.

We then dug out the ground surrounding the shell into a deeper basin that allowed water to collect naturally. We used a series of interlocking pavers to make a flat surface that extended from the back of the home to the retaining wall. This created a very natural and pristine compliment to our natural swimming pool, which now looked like an inviting portal into a remote island getaway, just a stone’s throw away from the back of the house.

We created an easier access to the pool by building two series of stone steps that led down to either side of the edge water’s edge. We avoided making them look like stairs. Instead, we wanted them to mimic visible rock layers that are the result of natural geological processes. The, at the end of the pool nearest the house, we placed a large flat stone to create a diving area, and we made a waterfall on either side of it by laying down stones in a manner that created varying speeds of water.

It took us almost a month to consciously and deliberately lay each stone by hand. While this may seem painstakingly detailed to some, the rewards were well worth the effort. At the end of the day, our natural swimming pool so closely resembled a jungle waterfall that it lacked almost all evidence of human conception or engineering.

Garden Water Fountain

A Houston couple by the name of Turner hired us to design a landscape that reflected their passion for collecting contemporary art. They wanted an abstract style built around stonework and vegetation. Their passion for contemporary art would be refleted in right angles and a sense of linear movement, and it would link the separate elements of the swimming pool, they yard, and the back of the house into an organic unity that looked both natural and contemporary.

We began our work by installing a fountain basin immediately adjacent to one end of the pool. We used a gunite concrete substructure that would provide waterproof containment, and we decorated the top of the concrete with a bluish-gray stone clad overlay that matched the color range in the house. This created the illusion of a small stone wall just slightly higher than the stonework surrounding the pool. Just inside the wall next to the pool, we built a garden water fountain out of three stones planed into cubes. The cubes were piled one on top of the other, so that when the structure was complete, it looked like a sculpture made from boulders on some far Pacific island. The water rose out of the stone at the top and flowed down all four sides of the sculpture into the basin, then into the pool.

The new water fountain and surrounding basin now gave us an ideal center point around which to plant a flower garden replete with a number of species. On the left side of the basin, we planted Mexican sedum that added a lime green color to the borders of the natural landscape. We also planted golden globe to provide flowering ground cover. To add a three dimensional element to the garden, we planted foxtail ferns (for year-round greenery) and bird of paradise (for seasonal blooms). Farther back from the fountain itself we planted a river birch tree that helped frame the scene and gave us ample opportunity for up lighting. To the right of the basin we added pentas, which are pink and red flowers that draw the eye toward the stone sculpture in the water.

We then completed the project by building a walkway that led from the front of the property to the home. We constructed this walkway out of stepping pads that actually float on water. This allowed us to build the walkway straight over the water in the center of the garden. We deliberately used this design in order to blend regular material with irregular material. The stones move in a progression from asymmetry to symmetry the closer you get to the house. The very first stepping stone has only two straight sides, for example, and the second has three. Each stone that follows becomes increasingly square as it passes over the garden water fountain until it finally reaches the back patio of the home.

River Oaks Corner Water Fountain

While this new fountain was technically only one element among many new features we created on this property, the new aesthetic it established transformed the entire atmosphere of the yard. The symmetrical geometry and balanced color scheme that it introduced into the landscape earned the entire property a reputation as being one of the most significant designs we have developed in the Houston area over the past few years.

The original corner fountain was a three-tiered structure that has long been used in landscaping designs throughout Europe and America. You almost always see this style of fountain in classic black and white movies. As such it suggests a certain sentimentalism of a simpler, earlier time, but beyond that its power as a symbol ultimately fails because it is too nostalgic and too stereotypical.
On a practical level, too, the fountain had a number of problems. Its internal pump and underwater lighting system were beginning to rust out and intermittently shut off. The owner was constantly spending money on repairs that did not last, and had probably invested more in maintenance than he ultimately did in its replacement. Another problem was that the original fountain walls had been built a bit too far from the main wall. This had allowed very thick vegetation to grow up and overshadow the fountain. There was just enough room for the plants to grow too thick, but not enough room for a person to comfortably walk behind the structure and trim it.

The first thing we did was to completely take out this structure and to create a new rectangular corner fountain that mirrored that of the wall behind it. The rear walls of the fountain itself were made of limestone and curved upward like inverted arches that leveled off and converged in the corner. We covered most of the bricks used to build the front walls with travertine coping, and we installed three water spouts each on either rear wall. Upgraded fountain lights were placed underneath these spouts to illuminate the falling water at night. The new pump was installed remotely so it would neither rust nor make noise. All that could be heard coming from the sound of the new corner fountain was the sound of the water itself. Even the filtration system was created using external equipment to minimize noise and corrosion.

Several types of vegetation were planted around the sides of the corner fountain to help its sharp right angles harmonize with the landscape. Dwarf monkey grass, which grows very well in shady areas, was planted for ground cover. Ardesia was added to help enhance ground cover and help control erosion. Its lime green color also provided a very nice compliment to the cream color of the stonework in the fountain. We also planted a Japanese maple next to the corner fountain. This is a wonderful tree to use in landscaping, as it provides both ideal proportions and color. It has burgundy leaves that provide a great deal of shade, but it never gets too tall. Positioned next to our new corner fountain, it enhanced the vertical element of the rear fountain wall.

The right angles of the fountain actually proved quite decorative at the end of the day. Because this property was very large, and had two separate patios in the yard, an exquisite view of the fountain could be seen directly across from either seating area. Lit up at night, this small corner catches your eye and draws your attention regardless of where you stand in the yard.

Exterior Worlds, in business since 1987, provides landscape design and services for residences, commercial buildings and retail centers in the Houston area. Call them at 713-827-2255 to request a consultation or estimate.

Morning Garden and Disappearing Water Fountain

A couple Memorial area couple named John and Jennifer Randall asked us to do create them a morning garden behind their French-style home. This was to be the premier element of their landscape, and was intended to be set apart as a separate space just for them. They wanted a personal space that was consistent with French landscape design, but one that had the feeling of Zen as well. It was to be located near the east end of the yard, so they could sit outside at sunrise to read the paper and enjoy conversation over coffee.

Creating a Zen consciousness in the middle of a French landscape required constructing the morning garden around a unique central element. We decided that the best feature for this purpose would be a very distinctive type of fountain called a disappearing fountain. This type of fountain is designed to let the water overflow its sides and disappear into the ground. To create this effect, we built a steel mesh grating that we then concealed under a layer of gravel. The fountain itself was built to mimic a Louisiana sugar cauldron (in honor of John’s Acadian ancestry). When the water poured over the sides, it appeared to vanish into the stones below. In reality, it was collected in a tank and then recirculated into the cauldron by means of a remote underground pump. Night lighting was suspended from the underside of the steel grating to create a sense of light coming up from the ground at night.

We landscaped the area around the disappearing fountain with a hardscape and softscape pattern of travertine blocks. We arranged them in such a way so as to create a checkerboard pattern in the grass. In some of the green spaces, we further ornamented the softscape areas with the same gravel we surrounded the fountain with. This combination of green, white, and black further alluded to Zen garden elements that extended into the French landscape but did not overpower it.

White stones walls surrounded the property and provided us with ample structure to create linear planting areas. In order to soften the right angles of the hardscape/softscape, we integrated gentle curves into planting areas along the walls. Palm and bottlebrush trees helped give this area a sense of height. Azaleas and seasonal flowers added color to the landscape, and boxwoods provided dark ground cover that provided clear boundaries needed to set apart the morning garden as separate space.

We then completed this project by building the Randall’s a small patio just large enough to seat the two of them. Small steps ran up to its surface, and the east wall formed connected to its base. Here, in the mornings, they could read the paper overlooking their morning garden and Zen fountain, while the sun rose over the wall and fell across the landscape to begin the day.

Contemporary Garden was designed around a Central Koi Pond

My wife and I would like to have the garden in our backyard redesigned. We have heard some of our neighbors talk about contemporary gardens, and wanted to know exactly what this term means.

Most contemporary garden designs are a blend of geometry, natural features, sculpture, masonry, and proportionally designed man-made forms. The very nature of any type of contemporary landscaping design is highly subjective, due to the fact that contemporary refers to virtually anything that is not historically traditional or characterized by a fixed form that assumes a static reality. Contemporary garden design will often blur the boundaries between the organic and inorganic, bringing into question our assumptions about the nature of life itself, and create a new aesthetic that combines natural tranquility with the eclectic, the intellectual, and the progressive.

Do they have more or less vegetation than typical garden?

The amount of vegetation in your garden is going to be relative to the overall size of the garden and the various structures and forms you use to shape the landscape. In a recent project we did in River Oaks, the only green areas in the garden were the four sides of the perimeter. This was done for two reasons. First, the original garden had been laid out in the form of a rectangle, which also provided an ideal template for a new, contemporary design. Secondly, the homeowners had requested we replace a three-tiered fountain in the center of the garden with a koi pond. Neither one of them was a swimmer, but both enjoyed conversation and entertainment at neighborhood pool parties. Knowing this about our clients, we decided to convert the central portion of the garden into a koi pond the size of large swimming pool. This gave them the equivalent of private, poolside seating on the new patio we built them, just next to a lighted fountain where koi fish darted in and out of the light.

Do contemporary garden designs feature a lot of abstract elements?

They can, but in the case of our River Oaks landscape clients, no abstract elements were used at all. Straight linear geometry was used to build almost every feature. The only exception to this was the way we did the masonry on the brick patio. We decided not to lay the bricks down in a typical linear pattern, but rather arrange them in diagonally in alternating rows. This created a sense of forward motion the minute you stepped out onto the patio, and helped to immediately establish the contemporary theme of the entire garden and landscape design.

We also built a stone walkway across the water using simple limestone slabs supported by pedestals hidden underwater. This created the illusion that the pads were floating on the water, although in reality they were fixed quite firmly in position, and could support the weight of anyone standing on them.

What types of plantings and decorations can you put in a contemporary garden?

Any type of plant life will work that is appropriate to a garden in general. As far as decorations go, many designers add a touch of the past to their contemporary design with small classical statuary, cherubs, or lighted fountains. Again, this is all highly subjective and depends on what you are looking for as a compliment to your home and yard.