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Fountain Vaults

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 21:23:38 GMT

There are few sites in this world more mesmerizing than a masterfully crafted fountain. Onlookers are immediately taken in by its display of light, color, and perfectly designed aquatic movement. What most viewers of these beautiful structures forget to take into consideration is how complex these water features are to function.

Since every fountain is unique, each mechanical setup is custom designed and engineered for each specific project. Most large-scale fountains operate with custom mechanical equipment located either in a mechanical room or in a subterranean vault.

Underground or Subterranean vaults save valuable square footage in more expensive real estate locations where a separate above-ground pump room or building may not fit. These subterranean vaults are constructed and whenever possible pre-plumbed with everything needed to operate a fully functioning water feature, including Controls, filtration systems, pumps and a tangled web of intricate plumbing.

Subterranean vaults are also perfect for parks and more remote outdoor areas where buildings or structures impede the water feature’s environment.

Mechanical rooms for fountains are convenient when the feature is within the building limits. Building Engineers and fountain technicians can easily access all of the fountain equipment for service. These mechanical rooms tend to be common in office buildings or larger campuses and are especially advantageous in colder environments where temperatures can fluctuate.

Fountain systems like this at Argenta Plaza in North Little Rock, Arkansas, are designed with a subterranean equipment vault and also an underground water collection tank. The mechanical equipment vault featured a fully automated control system with built-in pre-programmed control panels that choreograph fountain stream, lighting systems, and filtration. These fountain systems are built with ethernet capabilities for remote monitoring and easily adjustable display settings.

Fountain Lighting Tips

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 21:22:03 GMT

Each and every night, thousands of fountains all over the world light up, illuminating their majestic surroundings into a dreamy elegance. They encapsulate their onlookers with a magical wonder that creates a feeling all its own. It lets the designer highlight subtle nuances of the landscape, creating mystery while maintaining safety and comfort.

Fountain lighting technology has improved leaps and bounds over the last decade, making room for an even more cinematic and eye-catching display. Designing proper lighting around a water feature allows its viewers to take advantage of its beauty even after the sunsets.

Let’s bask in the glow of Fountain Lighting with some helpful tips and tricks for multiple applications.

One of the key elements of lighting water is maintaining a brightness level consistent with the light of its surrounding environment. Indoor water features need to be lit with equal or higher brightness levels for optimal visibility in the setting.

When lighting multiple focal points, the light should generally range in brightness within a 3:1 to 5:1 ratio with the main feature at no more than a 10:1 brightness relationship. It is essential to vary your brightness scale of more significant landscapes to accentuate more focal features as well as provide fill light to larger structures.

RGB lights give a magnitude of color selection for a variety of themes. This water feature shown in the picture at this corporate headquarters building used color changing RGB LED lights managed a fully automated control panel with ethernet capabilities. This allows us to monitor and program lighting displays in real-time remotely.

The position of these light sources also has an impact on the water’s visual character. The way light refracts off aerated compared to smooth water can vary the placement or equipment itself. Underwater submersible LED lighting is very effective at enhancing the water’s overall look. They are non-corrosive, long-lasting, and simple to maintain.

Rikugi-End Garden

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 21:20:47 GMT

We Hope that We Inspire You as Much as You Inspire Us.

Located in a Tokyo metropolitan park in Bunkyō-ku, the garden’s name means Garden of Six Principles of Poetry. Built between 1695 and 1702, Rikugi-en is typical from the Edo Period and a wonderful example of a traditional Japanese garden.

Wooded areas and manmade mini mountains surround the pond with winding and interconnecting trails of the park, making for a beautiful walk along its edge with hidden sights around every corner.

Tea houses are tranquilly placed throughout the trail for the gardens patrons to enjoy and relax as they gaze at the various trees lining the ponds shore. A particularly wonderful view is from the stepping-stones at Takimi-no-chaya, a tea house for watching the Sleeping Dragon rock sitting half-submerged in the pond. A small island called Horaijima is located in the middle of the pond with two small hills and represents “man” and “woman” in Japanese Waka poetry.

Amongst the many Maple trees are Japanese Apricot, Weeping Cherry and Evergreens. An amazing view of the landscape can be found at Togetsukyo Bridge which was named after a famous Waka poem about the view of the moon moving across the sky with the cry of a crane in a rice paddy heard nearby.

At Laughing Waters we strive to incorporate our inspirations like Rikugien into beautiful water gardens around America. If your project is truly inspired by water, Laughing Waters will help bring your water to life.

Animal Planet’s The Pool Master begins airing the rest of season 1 on April 3rd. Laughing Waters worked very closely with acclaimed landscape architect and water garden designer Anthony Archer Wills to create the most beautiful and interesting natural swimming pools for the show. We are very excited for you to see the kind of custom water feature work that Laughing Waters can accomplish for our customers.

Life by the Water's Edge

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 21:17:55 GMT

The Masters of The Future Are Inspired by The Work of Masters from The Past.

It’s no question that one could find tranquility in the confines of this sprawling Japanese Zen temple. Located in the rural and scenic outskirts of Kyoto Japan, Tenryu-ji Temple has one of the finest gardens in the Arashiyama district with breath taking mountain views and borrowed scenery.

Tenryu-ji was constructed in the 1345 and still holds most of its original elements from over 650 years ago. This UNESCO World Heritage site is often one of the first stops for any Green Thumb exploring the region.

The temple’s main hall allows incredible views of the garden and accompanying ponds. Using Shakkei, the technique of incorporating background landscape into the composition of a garden, the temple’s scenery allows the Arashiyama Mountains to feel like the gardens were placed there naturally. A group of large stones positioned on the western shore of The Sogenchi Pond suggests a mountainous island, mimicking the range surrounding the water feature while reflecting the Pine and Maple trees to the east. In a place with such a meditative atmosphere, you don’t have to be a Zen monk to reach spiritual enlightenment.

Inspired by the natural forms of Tenryu-ji’s works, Laughing Waters encourages our fellow landscape community to incorporate authentic natural aquatic environments into future landscape projects. Every Project should have a goal to create a harmonious aquatic environment that seamlessly integrates with its surroundings that will one day inspire a new generation of water feature designers and builders.

Asticou Azalea Garden

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 21:14:35 GMT

Maine’s Mount Desert Island’s Northeast Harbor holds a hidden Gem. When world famous landscape gardener Beatrix Farrand dismantled Reef Point Estate due to financial issues, Inn Keeper and Renaissance Man Charles Savage stepped in to rescue Farrand’s beloved Azalea collection, with financial help of John D. Rockefeller, and incorporated it into one of America’s premier water gardens.

Savage, a noted painter, sculptor and expert in hospitality was motivated to create a new attraction for the guests of his family’s luxury hotel. His inspiration was a combination of Japanese gardening, the lush natural landscape of Maine, and the beautiful Reef Pointe Azalea collection. With a time frame of one year and no formal landscape design training, this true artist built one of our favorite water gardens.

Asticou showcases one of the worlds most diverse and mature Azalea collections planted throughout the Japanese inspired garden, designed to flawlessly integrate the existing natural Alder swamp landscape.

Savage’s use of a sand garden along the eastern edge of the stream creates the illusion of islands near flowing water, contrasting each other’s beauty while enhancing the characteristics of each feature. His balance of natural and man-made aspects of the garden is on point with traditional Japanese style while blending vegetation and stones of the west.

Laughing Waters is particularly inspired by the meandering streams throughout the garden that are cleverly positioned to lead someone on an interactive journey through the garden and its ponds, creating clever vantage points. Natural edging details are married ever so delicately to the lush mature landscape, making it difficult to determine where the ground stops and the impressionist landscape painting begins.

Water Crawl: Chicago Series

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 21:12:19 GMT

Whether you are a Chicagoan born and raised, new to the city, or just visiting, the Park possibilities are vast, unique, and engaging to all. In a city of neighborhoods, each one brings a feel and flavor all its own. While it wouldn’t be impossible to see water features from all over the city in one day, you can expect a bit of exhaustion by the end and not have even scratched the surface. Let’s start our crawl up north by the lake and head west from there. As one of the most attractive features of Chicago, Lake Michigan boasts breathtaking views, beautiful beaches, and so many parks!

Alfred Caldwell Lilly Pond
There is a strange and tranquil feeling when you step through the gates of this park. The silence is only broken by the singing of birds above the calm babel of waterfalls. Designed to mimic a flowing stream winding through the great plains of The Midwest, landscape architect Alfred Caldwell wanted to give its viewers a secret garden right in the middle of the city. And of course, the lily pond.

Originally built in 1889 as a section of a Victorian garden, it displayed lilies and other tropical aquatic plant life along with diverse native foliage, making it a prairie oasis in Lincoln Park. Falling into near disrepair over the years before being revitalized in 2001 by the Chicago Park District, the lily pond has been brought back to life and is the habitat for many plants and animals. Visitors stroll around the ponds stone walkway as a variety of butterflies float through the dewy air while dragonflies zip along the edge of the pond.

Humboldt Park Pond & Lagoon
This park is so picturesque and vast, its difficult to sum up in a few words. The feeling patrons have while walking around this multifaceted park is nothing short of magical. Standing fairly inland from Lake Michigan, Humboldt Park, and its water features, including the Lagoon, are a popular destination for city dwellers and more to enjoy. Paddle boats and anglers are common sights in the lagoon. There may have even been an alligator at one point!

Created as a part of the West Park System, along with Garfield and Douglass Park, these urban nature preserves are connected by a boulevard, giving a wonderful flow between parks on Chicago’s West Side. Most of the original architecture still stands, including the boat and field house, constructed before 1928.

Though this massive park is a few miles from the lake, beach fans fear not, because it has its own! The Humboldt Park Beach sits beside a man-made coast along the lagoon where swimmers and sunbathers can enjoy a day at the beach in the middle of a park!

Ancient Fountain Function

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 21:10:43 GMT

Laughing Waters may be one of the top water feature companies of the century, but what about other centuries? Particularly, Ancient centuries!

Fountains have been used for thousands of years, dating back to Sumerian cultures in 2000 b.c. From the Romans to Ancient Persia, fountains not only provided décor and beauty but function for everyday life. How did these civilizations use and construct these helpful and handsome structures without the control of modern mechanical systems?

Aqueducts!

As early as Ancient Greece, aqueducts were used to move and utilize water to distribute throughout towns and cities. Canals were constructed, which allowed water to flow into areas where it could not be transported easily directly. Gravity, the world’s natural water pump, was vital. Water sources often started from mountain streams and rerouted, traveling to constructed cisterns and display fountains. Much like modern water towers, height allows water to pressurize and flow down into the cistern, then to homes or public fountains. These fountains were the cities’ primary sources for water and cultural waypoints making ancient life easier and helped beautify town centers.

The Romans developed elaborate aqueducts we can still see and visit today. These large bridge-like structures acted as water highways, constructed of stone archways with built-in canals that brought fresh water to its people but have been built to stand the test of time. There were also underground tunnels using pipes similar to what we use today throughout the city, spanning over 250 miles and moving as much as 38 million gallons of water per day. Nine aqueducts supplied water to 39 monumental fountains and nearly 600 public basins within the empire. Even excavations of Pompeii revealed freestanding basins and fountains throughout the city with freshwater carried directly from the mountains.

This ultra-efficient ancient plumbing system helped the famous Roman bathhouses function and provide drinking water to the empire. The Roman Empire is also well known for its acrobatic water movement in its fountains. Using these high source points to generate water pressure, hydraulic head was created , and the empire was able to develop water jets to create water movement in their decorative display fountains, birthing the origin of the dazzling aquatic displays we enjoy today.

Today, Laughing Waters has the creativity and engineering (plus modern plumbing) to construct beautiful fountains and water features inspired by the magnificent structures of the past, paired with high-quality materials and state of the art mechanical systems. Our team strives to create fountains that will last hundreds if not thousands of years.

Interested in adding water to your project? Contact Tim at laughing waters. We bring water to life.