Winter Pics at work.

[newrival]

I had to go oversee some construction at one of my jobsites and snapped a few pics of parts that we are almost finished with. It just looked so cool with all the snow I thought I'd share. Wish I had my good camera with me, though.

[Knucklehead]

Very nice.

[fishbones]

Wow, that's a beautiful piece of property!

[newrival]

Thanks! And to think a few years ago there was only a walking path and an abandoned foundation. It's always a great thing when you meet a client who encourages the designer to take a project to its limits with out a discussion of "value engineering." These are the projects that keep me eager to get to the office :)

[On3s&Z3r0s]

Damn that's gorgeous. Seems to take a lot of design cues from Japanese architectural style. Did they keep with that theme on the inside of the house too, or did they go a little more Western? Just an amazing job on the landscape, good work!!

[newrival]

The residence is actually a couple thousand feet from here. This is a japanese tea house. Everything was kept with the japanese stylings but with a modern twist. I'll see if I can find some a pic of the inside

[On3s&Z3r0s]

It beats the hell out of the dilapidated detatched garage I see when I look out my back window! I guess maybe I should be spending less money on audio gear. Again, truly a great job.

[newrival]

[tonyb]

Thats one hellava water feature, and a huge price tag to boot. Obviously the owner has some coin. Great work btw. Where's it located ?

[newrival]

thanks tony. in the chicagoland area, believe it or not.

[On3s&Z3r0s]

Is that a soaking tub? Tea is great and all, but I'll settle in with a sake or a scotch in that thing any day.

[newrival]

yep a tub and theres a massage table.

[cnh]

Are the owners Japanese or just taken with Japanese architecture? I know there is a lot of interest in Asian Art and Furniture in the Chicago are...my brother-in-law used to run a couple of Oriental Furniture stores in the area!

cnh

[gelinas]

Beautiful, just beautiful.

[tonyb]

Hey Chris....don't tell me there's a liner under there ? How would you ever find a leak ? Did you guys use that chemical, I forget the name,starts with a B, to seal the soil so it holds water ? They use it for big farm ponds too.

[newrival]

Hey Chris....don't tell me there's a liner under there ? How would you ever find a leak ? Did you guys use that chemical, I forget the name,starts with a B, to seal the soil so it holds water ? They use it for big farm ponds too.

Theres a number of systems going on here, actually. Sinc the Tea House is in the middle of the bond there are lots of bonding issues we had to address. But there is definitely a liner as well as a whole bunch of concrete Huge sawn boulder faces, A material similar to the one used for bomb protection in the pentagon rebuild and a couple other secrets, but water leaks arent a problem, finished grade is only 7" above the water table. The problem is hydrostatic pressure. But the Island actually houses a sophisticated monitoring system below ground.

[tonyb]

Yep, I get the hydrostatic pressure, thats one of the reasons I asked, also why it's not an issue in some farm ponds without liners. Some even import clay to hold water but that too can get costly. Curious as to the system you use to monitor the pressure and how it overcomes any issues. Care to expand on it as it's peaked my curiosity.
If finished grade is only 7 inches above the water table, I'm assuming a pretty detailed survey went into this as underground springs can play a big role in all this. My concern on the leaks isn't from underneath, more so a tree limb falling and ripping up the liner given the woody location. Also, is this a totaly natural setup or is there some kind of bio or mechanical filter hidden away ?

[newrival]

Are the owners Japanese or just taken with Japanese architecture? I know there is a lot of interest in Asian Art and Furniture in the Chicago are...my brother-in-law used to run a couple of Oriental Furniture stores in the area!

cnh

Just world travelers and collectors. Some of the nicest people you've ever met. They have a place in Tokyo and wanted to bring some of it back to the US.

[newrival]

Yep, I get the hydrostatic pressure, thats one of the reasons I asked, also why it's not an issue in some farm ponds without liners. Some even import clay to hold water but that too can get costly. Curious as to the system you use to monitor the pressure and how it overcomes any issues. Care to expand on it as it's peaked my curiosity.
If finished grade is only 7 inches above the water table, I'm assuming a pretty detailed survey went into this as underground springs can play a big role in all this. My concern on the leaks isn't from underneath, more so a tree limb falling and ripping up the liner given the woody location. Also, is this a totaly natural setup or is there some kind of bio or mechanical filter hidden away ?

Its somewhat complicated, but there are a series of chambers and minimal electronics. It's a redundant system that utilizes an additional pump if completely inundated. The filtration is pretty simple, it's taken care of naturally for the most part but then assisted by a couple pressurized bio filters and an ozone system on a booster pump used only for the first couple weeks in the spring to get it crystal clear super fast. As you can imagine there is a huge organic load over the winter from all the trees.

[tonyb]

Ozone....like the ozone generators in hot tubs ? Helps break down the organic matter I presume, but like you said, has to be alot of it after a winter here and in that location. Given the sheer size of it, has to be one heck of a system.

[Tony M]

Wow, that is something pretty!!

I'm into the oriental theme in my man cave now. BUT on a much smaller budget..LOL.

I have a free-standing boulder/stone waterfall feature that I will use when space allows. It was a garage sale find...again...LOL


Great work there!!

[newrival]

Ozone....like the ozone generators in hot tubs ? Helps break down the organic matter I presume, but like you said, has to be alot of it after a winter here and in that location. Given the sheer size of it, has to be one heck of a system.

Yep ozone has a lot of great uses in a pond system, organic break down is a main one and helpful to clean things up quickly. The good thing about large water systems is they offer a great defense against problems and that is dilution. I think you'd be surprised at the filtration we use. If you thoughtfully engineer the ecology of a system, clear water becomes a hands-off process. The extra filtration just makes it easier to manage.

[tonyb]

Totaly agree, I always tell people bigger ponds are easier to keep clean and free of the green monsters. How deep is this water feature anyway ? Whats the total gallons ? Just by the looks I want to say 40,000, depending on depth of coarse.

Have you ever gone back to a water feature you installed 2,3 or 4 years later ? Just to see how well the design held up or if they had any water quality issues ?

[newrival]

Totaly agree, I always tell people bigger ponds are easier to keep clean and free of the green monsters. How deep is this water feature anyway ? Whats the total gallons ? Just by the looks I want to say 40,000, depending on depth of coarse.

Have you ever gone back to a water feature you installed 2,3 or 4 years later ? Just to see how well the design held up or if they had any water quality issues ?

The water is 8' deep in some parts. 40,000 is just a tad under ;) theres over 300k gal in the system.

We do complete life-tracking and "drop-ins" on all of our work. Of course the ones on the coasts are harder to get to frequently, but we keep close contact with our clients. We also manage maintenance schedules etc. so the short answer is yes. thats the only only way to progress our practice, especially since each new project is its own experiment.

[scottyboy76]

satisfying just to look at, you must surely be proud, rightly so.

[gdb]

Holy Frank Loyd Fujiyama ! Very nice !!

[B&W802d]

Looks very peaceful there. Nice place to relax and enjoy life. Nice work btw. Attention to detail is key.

[indyhawg]

nice place.

[danz1906]

Very nice!

[codyc1ark]

Very nice indeed, I lived/worked in Chicago for about six months, and was lucky enough that I worked on many properties that you'd have to have this kind of coin for. My favorite one was one that had a marble infinity pool with a hottub/waterfall into the pool looking over the lake. Neat.