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Concrete is the ideal material to use to transform outdoor spaces into outdoor rooms surrounded by stunning hardscapes and equipped with all the comforts of home.
Who quits a stable job with a government pension for the insecurity of self-employment in a field where you have no formal training or experience? To put it another way, who in his right mind would give up a career in electronic engineering in a weapons program at the Nevada Test Site for … concrete work?
When a pair of homeowners put their heads together with concrete maestro Tom Ralston, the result was three levels of outdoor grandeur.
When offered the chance to help customers relax with cool pool designs, these veteran design crews dove right in.
This working Roman aqueduct, completed in the fall of 2005 for a home in Dove Canyon, Calif., wasn’t built in a day.
People have enjoyed sitting outside around a fire since, well, since they discovered fire. Besides the practicalities of fire for warmth, light and cooking, the comfort and romance of fire make us want to pull our chairs up to the hearth and turn our backs on the daily grind.
Steelhead trout rivers, bear dens, salmon runs, bighorn sheep ledges, Jurassic fossils – all hallmarks of eastern Washington state. All available for touching, climbing, wading and digging at the Discovery Playground in Mirabeau Point Park, maintained by the City of Spokane Valley, Washington.
The project was a lot simpler than the one Baltz ended up with. “I was first approached to do some hardscape and subbase for a network of brick or paver stone terraces,” he recalls. “The connecting walkways were going to be asphalt.” He can’t hide the disdain in his voice when he makes that last statement.
When we think of sculpting, most of us probably picture statues or abstract artistic shapes, not a combination of walls and steps and terraces that enhance the natural surroundings. Yet that is what the sculpting of a hillside is shaping the landscape into an attractive blend of man-made and natural elements.
The new Exploration Center at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Santa Cruz, Calif., invites visitors to interact with exhibits that explore issues impacting the marine ecosystem.
East Coast met West Coast and “old school” joined up with state-of-the-art hardscape concrete work at an award-winning residential project in Andover, Mass. The three-level backyard spread, including patio, pool, fire pit and surrounding walls, earned project owner New England Hardscapes, of Acton, Mass., an ASCC design award.
