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Copyright Architectural Structure
VA 953-440 USA 3/18/99
See the comments
under Preying Eagle I
to fully
appreciate the title and present narrative.
Here, a structure similar to the original version is cast in a totally
different setting, even one without any remote background. So the emphasis
here is on the foreground.
This style of arbor serves as an elegant backdrop for the center of
activity, the swimming pool. And in the process, upstages the rather bland
background beyond the wrought-iron fence, not withstanding the panorama of
colors in the rock-garden just beyond the back row of columns.
Although this version is a derivative work
of
Preying Eagle I,
it has some distinctions worthy of comment:
- First, the back perimeter of the canopy is supported by a continuous
semi-circular beam rather than a bar.
- Secondly, the three back columns are shorter and
the two forward columns are more slender and closer together than in the
original.
| Click image for larger view |
 The owners were
particularly concerned that what little sun fell on this north side of a
2-story house would not be diminished. So the openness of the arbor was
actually a requirement. But, the duplication of the arbor in the pool's
reflection broadens the vista even more, sort of like a mirrored wall's
doubling of a room's size.
At night even with
the hanging lantern aglow, the under-lit pool casts a shimmering turquoise
pattern dancing along the white elements in the foreground, making the arbor
appear electrified. It's hard to imagine these side effects in the planning
stages; but once built, the environment sometimes enhances the structure
even more than vice versa.
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