WET (WET Design)

WET (WET Design)

WET (Water Entertainment Technologies), also known as WET Design, is a water feature design firm based in Los Angeles, California, founded in 1983 by former Disney Imagineers Mark Fuller, Melanie Simon, and Alan Robinson. WET is best known for its convert|9|acre|m2|sing=on Fountains of Bellagio in Las Vegas, but the company has designed some two hundred fountains and architectural water features in many parts of the world. [cite web | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06E4D71239F932A15753C1A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
title="Computers Are the Balanchine Behind Those Dancing Fountains: October 21, 1999" | author=Kopytoff, Verne G. | date=1999-10-21 | publisher= The New York Times | accessdate=2008-05-21]

In addition to its focus on design, WET has pioneered many of the technologies that have since become common in fountains built around the world, by others as well as WET. These technologies include laminar flow fountains, fountains that arise from the pavement instead of from pools, fountains powered by compressed air instead of pumps, and fountains employing sophisticated underwater robots. [cite web | url=http://www.cncmagazine.com/vol_9thru12/v9i32/v9i32c-WET.asp | title="It’s Only Water: Vol. 9, Issue 32" | author=Berry, Richard | publisher=CNC Machining | accessdate=2008-05-21]

Hallmarks of WET fountains are that the water itself is the element of interest (no statuary covered by water); there are few if any boundaries between the fountain and viewers; the fountains display novel and surprising water forms not seen in traditional fountains; and many WET fountains take choreographic movement of the individual water elements to a level of precision and variable motion that approaches those of human performers. [cite web | url=http://www.cncmagazine.com/vol_9thru12/v9i32/v9i32c-WET.asp | title="It’s Only Water: Vol. 9, Issue 32" | author=Berry, Richard | publisher=CNC Machining | accessdate=2008-05-21]

Notable WET features

The Fountains of Bellagio, Las Vegas, Nevada
Waters of Americana at Brand, Glendale, California
Brooklyn Museum of Art Fountain, Brooklyn, New York [cite web | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/04/nyregion/04blocks.html | title="Island of Sanctuary in the Traffic Stream: August 4, 2005" | author=Dunlap, David W. | publisher=New York Times | accessdate=2008-05-21]
Cauldron for the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympic Games, Salt Lake City, Utah
Columbus Circle Fountains, New York, New York [cite web | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06E4D71239F932A15753C1A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
title="Computers Are the Balanchine Behind Those Dancing Fountains: October 21, 1999" | author=Kopytoff, Verne G. | date=1999-10-21 | publisher= The New York Times | accessdate=2008-05-21]
Crown Casino Water/Fire Feature, Melbourne, Australia
Fanfare at San Pedro Gateway, Port of Los Angeles, San Pedro, California,
Fountain of Nations, EPCOT Center, Orlando, Florida
Fountain Place, Dallas, Texas
Gas Company Tower Water Feature, Los Angeles, California
The Grove at Farmers Market Fountain, Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles Music Center Fountain, Los Angeles, California
McNamara Terminal Fountain, Detroit, Michigan
The Mirage Volcano (updated version), Las Vegas, Nevada
Navy Pier Fountain, Chicago, Illinois
Tokyo Dome Fountain, Tokyo, Japan
Universal CityWalk Fountain, Los Angeles, California

History

The antecedents of WET can be found in Mark Fuller’s undergraduate thesis in Civil Engineering at the University of Utah, for which he developed a large-scale laminar-flow nozzle that went on to be a major element in many of WET’s fountains and water features. After graduating Stanford University in product design, where he refined his laminar-flow nozzle, Fuller was hired by the The Walt Disney Company as an Imagineer. During his time at Disney, he created the “Leapfrog” fountain at Epcot, using laminar technology. [cite web | url= http://wetdesign.com/wetdesign.html
title=WET History | publisher=WET Design | accessdate=2008-05-21]

In 1983, Fuller and two coworkers left Disney to found WET. The company’s first major commission was Fountain Place (originally Allied Bank Tower) in Dallas, Texas, a collaboration with landscape architects, Peter Ker Walker and Dan Kiley. [cite web | url= http://www.caltradereport.com/eWebPages/profiles-1075342157.html | title="Making A Big Splash: WET Design Inc." | publisher=CalTrade Report | accessdate=2008-05-21]

Since then, WET’s collaborations have included Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Pei Cobb Freed & Partners; Philip Johnson/Alan Ritchie Architects; SWA Architects; Olin Partnership; Peter Walker and Partners; Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates; and developers Caruso Affiliated and Steve Wynn.

References

External links

* [http://wetdesign.com WET Official Site]
* [http://www.bellagio.com/amenities/fountains-of-bellagio.aspx Fountains of Bellagio]


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