Society of Watershape Designers
Since its inception in 1998, Genesis 3 has sought to bring design, engineering and construction excellence to the watershaping industry by offering seminars, short courses and schools that reflect the education, experience and applied skills of top-flight instructors working with first-class ambition.
From the start, the aim has been to drive the watershaping trades to new levels of acceptance and credibility and to advance the regard with which prospects and clients hold watershapers. Progress has been made, and we've reached a point where the next natural step is to formalize the Genesis 3 approach and philosophy into a series of core classes, conducted under the auspices of the Society of Watershape Designers (SWD), on truly advanced approaches to watershape design and construction. Each of these courses will be marked by higher ambitions, higher expectations and the following mission:
"The Society of Watershape Designers' Curriculum will elevate the watershaping industry through education in practical skills associated with design excellence, all according to standards observed in the world beyond watershaping. In so doing, the Curriculum will create an alliance of like-minded professionals who will steadily raise consumer expectations beyond established norms and who will create a demand for watershapes that are truly works of the designer's art."
The Society of Watershape Designers' Curriculum
In any educational process worth pursuing, success and real learning takes time, discipline and a structured curriculum - along with instructors who truly practice what they teach.
Through its programs, Genesis 3 has always worked toward higher standards for the watershaping trades and greater expectations among clients and colleagues. From the start, these programs have offered cutting-edge educational opportunities and fostered an environment in which like-minded professionals have advanced their knowledge and formed a community based upon the pursuit of watershaping excellence.
The crown jewel of the Genesis 3 approach is the new curriculum that will form the core programs for the Society of Watershape Designers and its members. These 20-hour, fully accredited classes, which will start by covering color theory, the principles of design, advanced two-dimensional communication, the vocabulary of design history and the principles of proper pool and watershape construction, are just the beginning of a growing cluster of programs that will intentionally make a difference.
In each of the design courses and in the upcoming Pool & Watershape Construction School, instructors will capture the essence of their educations and careers in the graphic and practical arts - and give you the opportunity to benefit from their established, recognized and plainly evident expertise at a level of instruction usually unavailable outside a university classroom.
This Society of Watershape Designers' Curriculum has been developed to elevate the watershaping industry through education in skills and practices associated with excellence found in the world beyond watershaping. In so doing, the Curriculum will create an alliance of like-minded professionals who will steadily raise consumer expectations beyond established norms and who will create a demand for watershapes that are truly "works of the designer's art."
Basic Color Theory
What happens visually when a green grass runs up against a border of red brick as opposed to one of gray gravel? What surrounding colors make a watershape recede ? or take center stage? This course offers a detailed exploration of color perception that starts with the color wheel and carries through to individual experimentation and practical applications related to art, architecture and the dynamics of colors found around water.
Instructor: Judith Corona, a teacher and visual artist whose work has been exhibited in U.S. and European galleries and who is also a fellow of the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Elements of Design
Design is a specific educational discipline that is taught and learned - contrary to opinions forwarded by those who call themselves designers without the credentials to back it up. This course introduces participants to the principles of line, texture, shape, balance, proportion, scale, spatial relationships, color interaction and more and will begin developing participants' perceptual skills and creative awareness in ways that ultimately shape a true designer.
Instructor: Donald Gerds, author of Perspective: The Grid System (now in its sixth edition) and an industrial designer with more than 30 years' teaching experience in eight countries.
Measured Perspective
The path to success in watershape design has to do with creating visual representations that let clients see and fully understand the potential harbored in their projects. This advanced course in perspective drawing and rendered elevations cultivates those specific communications skills, developing participants' competency with two-point perspective while focusing on scale, proportion, structured layouts, grid systems, tone, shadow and more.
Instructor: Lawrence Drasin, an industrial designer who focuses on special-effect interiors and a long-time instructor recognized as Teacher of the Year at UCLA in 2002.
The Vocabulary of Architecture & Style
When you speak with prospects and clients, does your level of knowledge of art and architectural history position you to communicate with them in designing a watershape that meets expectations? Can you make your watershapes harmonize with styles found in their homes and the artworks they love? To stimulate that conversational and practical ability, this course surveys architectural history, ancient to modern, with a particular focus on water in built environments.
Instructor: Mark Holden, landscape architect and instructor in landscape architecture at California Polytechnic State University at Pomona and other educational institutions.
Pool & Watershape Construction School
In parallel with education in the visual arts and in keeping with the general mission of advancing education on a global level, we now offer the new Pool & Watershape Construction School. The program is designed to bring participants up to speed with the latest principles in plan review, excavation, layout, soil and drainage, steel placement, plumbing, utilities, gunite, tile and coping, decks and drainage, remote controls, automation, plaster and start-ups. Instructors include recognized designers, engineers and builders, including hydraulics expert Steve Gutai, tile artist Scott Fleming, automation and control specialist Tom Schoendienst, watershaper Paul Benedetti, engineer Ron Lacher, P.E., and other specialists in the practical arts.
Understanding and Designing Fountains and Waterfeatures
Fountain design has long stood at the leading edge of the watershaping arts. Success involves an understanding of hydraulics, sound; lighting and control systems that take common head pressure and turn it into something magical. This program offers an intensive examination of the principles and technologies involved in making water flow in precisely controlled patterns to achieve defined and spectacularly illuminated visual effects. This special-focus course is taught by Paul L'Heureux, a fountain designer and engineer with years of experience teaching designers and clients what can and can't be done with water in motion.
Society of Watershape Designers' Course Accreditation Structure
To bring substance to its ever-expanding list of educational offerings, the Society of Watershape Designers has developed an accreditation structure designed to provide professional certification upon completion of certain levels of course work. This structure, which will be presented in expanded form on the SWD web site, has been developed using guidelines maintained by the International Association for Continuing Education (IACET).
Certificate of Completion - Construction
[ ] Two-day Construction School required (core course)
[ ] Three elective units
Qualified Electives:
[ ] Level I Design School - three units*
[ ] Aqua Show Sessions - one unit each, hydraulics, soils, engineering, glass tile, pond construction, vanishing edge design, lighting design.
[ ] Passing grade on the Certification Exam
Certificate of Completion - Design
[ ] Four Design Curriculum Classes (core courses)
[ ] Basic Color Theory
[ ] Elements of Design
[ ] Measured Perspective
[ ] The Vocabulary of Architecture and Style
[ ] Passing grade on the Certification Practicum/Course Project for each of the
four core courses
[ ] Four Elective Units
Qualified Electives:
[ ] Level I Design School - three units*
[ ] Level II Design School - three units
[ ] One-Day Perspective Drawing Class - one unit
[ ] Fountain School - two units
[ ] Five-Day Landscape Lighting Institute - three units
[ ] Five-Day Drawing Class - three units
* At the participant's option, units from the Level I Design School may be applied to either the Design or the Construction certificate program, but not to both.
Certification is provided through the Society of Watershape Designers. The certification program is managed by a Board of Directors that includes industry experts Mark Holden, Chris McDonald, David Tisherman, Jim McCloskey and a fifth member who will serve on a rotating basis. These professionals constitute an administrative council that, among other functions, determines the value of units earned with individual courses that are directly part of Society of Watershape Designers' programs and also reviews the transferability and SWD unit levels assigned to of courses taken outside the Curriculum.
