Soma Basics: Water Features - Softcover

Stevens, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1579590624 ISBN 13: 9781579590628

Publisher: Conran Octopus Ltd, 2000

Synopsis

Getaways for physical and spiritual renewal don't have to involve distance or expense; they can happen right at home with a well-planned garden that utilizes water in a special way. Placing a pool, fountain, or stream in an existing outdoor environment can be daunting but need not involve massive cost or a complete redesign. In SOMA Basics: Water Features, David Stevens shows readers how to add striking water features to their yards -- from spouting shells to soothing ponds -- while keeping the mechanics invisible.Using the same colorful, compact format as SOMA Basics: Garden Design, this book covers style, structures, materials, and methods. Full-color photos, matched with professional plans and illustrations, go from concept to completion using the latest designs and technology.

About this title

Review

Conran Octopus Contemporary Garden Design is a well-illustrated and informative guide to the design of small gardens. David Stevens is a garden designer of some repute and academic standing: his approach is helpfully practical. "Contemporary" in this instance does not mean "Exclusively Modern": Stevens approach is eclectic and sensitive, on the one hand, to the nature and context of the site, and, on the other, to the sensibilities and lifestyles of those who will using the garden. So the styles range from austere minimalism to richly-planted cottage-type gardens full of incident. The book starts with a section on groundwork, which turns out not to be soil preparation but the pre-planning work of surveying, choosing a style, reading the garden's moods and idiosyncrasies. Taking time to get to know your garden before you decide what to do with it, no matter how small it might be, can be a highly rewarding exercise. The section on planning and design is particularly useful. Stevens guides the reader through the range of complex decisions that must be made about effective use of space, structural elements and the incorporation of focal points and views; novice designers will find exceptionally useful his notes on the technical process of creating successive drawings for overall concept, detailed structural design and final planting plan. He concludes with a series of five before-and-after case studies (one of them his own garden) showing just what can be achieved by careful planning. The results are impressive, as the transformation of Stevens' own garden from "a wasteland of builders' rubble" to a richly-textured space articulated by structural elements and clever planting shows. --Robin Davidson

About the Author

David Stevens is the first ever Professor of Garden Design at Middlesex University and has won eleven Chelsea Flower Show gold medals. He has presented two popular garden design series on British television and has written many books for Conran Octopus, including the Garden Design Sourcebook, Simple Garden Projects and Small Gardens and Backyards.

Edition details

• Publisher: Conran Octopus Ltd
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1579590624
• ISBN 13: 9781579590628
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 96