Thursday, July 27, 2006

Water Fountains

No, these aren't all mall fountains (or even in America), but heck they're fountains, and those always remind me of the shopping mall vibe! And besides, what climate-controlled mall blog worth its salty pretzels wouldn't offer you some sweet fountains to gaze at and cool off in--especially when it's so flippin' hot outside, like lately in many portions of the US?!

So here are just a few of the many nice water fountain videos I found on YouTube of late. Let's kick off our shoes, relax for a few moments, and take a little fountain break! :) Btw, to avoid auditory annoyance, watch the volume, as some are louder than others.


Taipei 101 - Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC


Shopping Center - Nurnburg, Germany


Sunshine City Mall - Ikebukuro, Tokyo


Fountain music video


The Magic Fountain of Montjuïc - Barcelona, Spain

Note: Video is Flash format. If you don't see it, you must temporarily disable your ad-blocking programs.

1 comment:

  1. Those fountains that jump in arcs are called laminar-flow nozzles, Mark Fuller of WET Design (builder of the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas) first built these. His first installation is still going at EPCOT in Florida. There are lots of imitators on the market now. The well-made ones make water that looks like a glass rod, but the thing no one has duplicated was Fuller's "anti-gravity" look. The arcs on his EPCOT fountain jumped from and to an assortment of circular foam pads set into planter beds. As soon as a water arc touched down on one pad, that pad's nozzle would send an arc towards another pad. When any arc's rear end came to the pad, the jet jumping off the pad stopped, too. Thus, visitors seemed to see a single flexible glass rod (it didn't look much like water) bouncing off the pads from place to place, defying gravity and all laws of physics. Fuller also built an upward-flowing waterfall for EPCOT (another tricky illusion)

    The fountain in Sunshine City is one of the fountains based loosely on the Dancing Waters/Waltzing Waters design, while the one at Taipei 101 is based on WET Design water shows. The "Magic Fountain" in Barcelona is completely unique, I've never seen anything like it. Note the ring of nozzles that opens and closes like a flower, and the revolving conical spray in the center (with a stationary conical spray inside that!) Remarkable! The first video shot I've seen of this fountain! If only malls had fountains like this...

    (Note, a few malls have interesting WET Design fountains, and at least two - one posted on here from Vancouver, was it? and Camp Snoopy in the Mall Of America, have Waltzing Waters shows)

    ReplyDelete