Projects The Ruiz Project #2

Projects
Rancho Ruiz Project 2

Front ↓

Rear ↓

This arbor's style is an extension of the first Ruiz project built two years earlier (as seen in the far background) but is not a duplication of the original design. Here, there are 2 fan-joist arbors each spanning 120º of arc and supported by 4 equidistant posts. Both arbors flank an arched covered bridge.

Solid-plastic designer trellises were used to create a broad panoramic screen by filling-in the open spaces between the arbor posts. Note that instead of growing climbing plants upon the trellises, they have been left exposed to serve as a striking decorative element. For more information about these all-plastic designer trellises, click here.

The bridge has a number of unique complementary designer elements:

the canopy's arch crossing perpendicular to the bridge's arch

the curved "knee-braces" from the posts to arched beams that blend into the arc of the beam at its tips

the arched valance of large circles under the arched beams

and the string of smaller decorative circles just beneath the bridge's railing caps.

As in the first project, all the wooden elements are Western Red cedar. What's different in this project is that solid-plastic lumber has been used right along with the cedar in an integrated fashion.

The bridge's supporting arches were each constructed by laminating eight solid-plastic 1x6 boards into a 17-foot arc. The big yellow circles and their supporting rails between the canopy's posts were made from solid-plastic 2x10s. The two top-rails of the railings and the decorative circles between them were all made from yellow PrimoPlank. The bridge's decking (2x10s) and railing caps (2x6s) are rosewood-colored PrimoPlank.

This is what differentiates Mr. Deck from other arbor builders: it seems that when a contractor builds with wood, the entire arbor gets built from wood. The same thing happens when a contractor builds arbors with powder-coated aluminum or hollow PVC plastic; the whole structure always gets constructed from all the same material. Mr. Deck is a pioneer in mixed media structures.

Postscript

This is where the project started ↑

After the structure was in place, the owners began to design the landscaping on their own with the structure as the centerpiece -- they excavated a deep channel for the pond and brought in over 500 truckloads of soil from various pool contractors who had all this soil from excavating for swimming pools and nowhere to dump it. Then they hired a first-rate pond contractor to create the pond and water fall.

They rehired the contractor who built the wall and pool decking from the first Ruiz project to build the background wall and firepit here. After that, the artist who worked on the first project painted the new walls on this project to conform to the design of the first project.

The owners selected all the decorative pottery and the plants. They even did their own layout and planting.

They put in low-voltage lighting everywhere -- ground spot lights for each column and trellis, wall lights to highlight the sandstone decking and landscape lighting to light-up the pathways.

All-in-all it was a team project from the get-go. Every artisan did their part within their specialty and all were top-notch. No one could ever envision the whole project -- it just evolved. But here the arbor stands today -- in one of the most spectacular settings anyone could have ever imagined. And the view at night is even more spectacular!

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