Urban Landscape Architect Thomas Balsley carries a strong belief in and an inevitable fascination with waters muffling, cleansing and regenerative powers. He explains, "Within the chaos of the urban environment, water's role is to make connections and seek things as we all came from water initially, it provides a way of touching the spirit quickly, quietly and effectively."

Landscape Architects today are primed to accept the challenges of the commercial client. Across the nation, Landscape Architects either design their own water features in-house, or subcontract the work out to a consultant or vendor. Recent Landscape Architect and Specifier News surveys indicate that 58% of Landscape Architects do in-house water feature design, 27% hire subcontractors, and 15% rely on vendors. By directing and enhancing designs that reflects the stated business missions of their clients, Landscape Architects can, in fact, convey new strategic goals and management insights into the commercial landscape.

Landscape Architect Bernie Wenzig, ASLA, Principal of San Diego, California-based Architectural Landscapes, recently created an oasis setting for the new 153,262 square foot First American Credco office building in Poway, CA. A distinctive, key-shaped water feature-- surrounded by 130 lush, 35-foot Date Palms is the focal point of the Oasis at the Main Entry Plaza. The grove of new palms was integrated with the site features to give the appearance that the site was developed about an existing date palm grove. The palms are aligned in both directions, as they would be in an old agricultural grove.

This slate-covered feature has a sloping, tiled runnel through which the water cascades, creating a soft, soothing, trickling sound. It's a sculptural object where water runs down a keyhole shaped runnel and over a brass weir. Wenzig explains, "The edge of the weir is straight, but due to the water feature's shape, the running water accumulates faster along the edges forming a curved sheet of water that falls into the lower pool." Built by San Diego-based Aquatic Equipment & Services Inc. (AES), the fountain features a one-horsepower engine with automatic backwash, auto fill and lighting. The project incorporates a single, watersafe white light.

AES Project Manager Mark Clements reveals, "The most challenging part of this project was interpreting and executing the Landscape Architect's vision, and coming up with cost-effective solutions for its construction. The original design concept was to use a cast-in-place concrete structure for the fountain; however, that concept turned out to be cost-prohibitive and conceptually flawed. Instead, the design team reverted to using the concrete brick construction process and incorporating a sloping surface. The resulting design truly represents a lush oasis in the heart of a corporate jungle."

The design was for an interactive water feature that did not have any standing water, and could be controlled from the filter vault. The "Jumping Jewels and Jumping Jets" that comprise the water feature are directed with a programmable logic controller. The water pops and jumps in a random pattern, so that the children don't know which one will move next. Peter Crego of Waterworks International describes the interactive fountain as a combination of "motion, fluidity, and light."

Likewise, tons of granite floating on a film of water create high-impact, low-maintenance fountains for public spaces and private gardens indoors and out, that invite participation from spectators. Nestled in a socket cut to exacting contours, each fountain is propelled by low water pressure, basic physics, and precise stone masonry. Called Kugel "the German word for ball," these beautiful and interactive fountains also are technically fascinating. Now found across the country-- from corporate developments to zoos to Disneyland-- these granite spheres are pumped up from below at a surprisingly low 12 to 20 psi, which is all that is required to begin the sphere's rotation. The fountain spheres are up to eight feet in diameter and weighs more than 20 tons that can easily be turned by hand. Spheres range in diameter from 24 to 96 and in weight from 670 lbs. to 45,200 lbs.

Quarry Line Sales Manager Mike Waas explains, "One of the most challenging granite sphere projects we have worked on were fountains fabricated by Sorvikivi Oy in Savitaipale, Finland. Sorvikivi is a small company owned by Eero Vainikka. He oversees the manufacture of each fountain. Completing one fountain can take up to six months. The country of Finland contains a wide variety of some of the best granite deposits in the world. This allows Vainikka to personally select the blocks of granite he uses right from the quarries. The most rewarding part of these projects is watching the people walk by the fountain when it's completed. Hardly anyone who passes by, can resist the temptation to touch it and turn the sphere for themselves."

Yet many water features are created simply for aesthetic impact alone. Conceived as a gateway into downtown Orlando, Florida, the Southern Gateway Project (or the Roslynn Avenue Realignment Project) recently created a striking centerpiece for the urban area. Plans created by Landscape Architect Maureen Quinn, ASLA, of Winter Park-based DAG Design, Inc. called for a large water feature in the 7-acre Lake Lucerne that would accentuate the surrounding new park setting and provide a striking visual focus.

Fountain Contractor Jim Williams of Lake Fountains & Aeration, Inc., describes the multi-dimensional water feature as a spectacular, center cascade 30-horsepower fountain with a bold, frothy white 40-foot high column. This central cascade is surrounded by seven, smaller, 7.5-horsepower cascade fountains with display, heights of 25 feet. A dazzling light display adds the visual focus that the Landscape Architect was hoping for, resulting in an exhibition of visual drama.

Perhaps nowhere is grandeur and drama more evident than in the Fountains of Bellagio, a dramatic masterpiece sited in an 8-acre lake located in front of the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. The concept was conceived by Steve Wynn, Chairman of Mirage Resorts, who commissioned Landscape Architects at Lifescapes International (See February 1999, A World Apart) and fountain designers at WET Design to realize his objectives for the fountains site. Among the project's objectives was the concept of creating a work that would be vibrantly kinetic and elating for visitors, while expressing the romantic spirit of Bellagio. As designers, the main objective was to create a work that was commanding and elating, and one that would exemplify the resort's spirit of elegance, romance and opulence. The result is one of the most ambitious water features ever conceived in terms of choreographic complexity and scale. WET Design Manager of Architectural & Facility Engineering Tony Freitas, P.E. clarifies, Actually, it's been described as the biggest and best fountain on planet Earth in the history of time. Unfortunately, Guinness doesn't have this category, so we don't have an independent verification. But if you see something bigger, please let us know.

Located within the lake and spanning its 1,000 foot length is an array of over 1,000 water expressions and over 4,000 individually programmed white lights. Within this plan is a combination of water forms that enables the fountains to interpret and perform to selected musical pieces. Claire Tuttle, WET Design Director of Design explains, "A broad collection of music from classical to Broadway show tunes to popular music and jazz gives the feature a range of appeal. The Shooters offer us a pulsing or chasing movement, which can express the staccato passages in the music as well as the lyrical passages when these jets, which are individually controlled, are made to chase across the lake. The Oarsmen are by contrast continuous flowing jets that contribute to the more legato passages in the music. The fog creates a more ambient effect, and is used to alter the overall texture of the lake's surface."

The design team determined that the vibrant white illumination was the most effective way to light this fountain for now, although they do have the capacity to add color filters in the future, if ever desired. A 480-hp fog system appears in the center of the fountains, in two rings. Over 5,000 fog nozzles operate at pressures up to 2,000 psi. Freitas explains, "The fog can entirely cover the lake, and Las Vegas Boulevard, if we are not careful. He continues. The biggest challenge from an engineering standpoint was the sheer magnitude of this water feature. This was our biggest project ever, and all the equipment we used was newly developed or redesigned specifically for this installation. All this was put in a ten-acre lake that is 13 feet deep in the center. The mechanical and electrical systems have more in common with an industrial plant than with your typical fountain, except they're in the basement of one of the best hotels in Las Vegas."

Tuttle continues, "Many of the signs, buildings or displays that face Las Vegas Boulevard now are themed charicatures of something else. I am very proud that this water feature is not that. It uses no derivations of other existing monuments. It is a celebration of form, kinetic pattern and light. The music gives it familiarity for the visitor, and, in fact, that is an important requirement for this project. However, the experience is entertaining to everyone without looking like something they are already familiar with. The feature is abstract and it is successful."

Indeed, the appealing qualities of water cool and calm an urban environment and help ensure an energetic and thriving commercial marketplace. As developers continue to recognize the universal appeal of dynamic and interactive water features-- and, accordingly, include them in commercial development projects across the nation-- Landscape Architects are poised to enjoy the opportunity to specialize in the art and science of water feature design. lasn