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    Six functions of garden water features

Six functions of garden water features

Outdoor spaces are fast becoming our new favourite places. Rather than adding to the noise, however, well-placed water features can re-balance the outdoor ambiance, along with a whole lot more.

James Wormald

By James Wormald

August 7, 2022 | 10:00 pm CUT

Oase’s collection of water features range from curved or vertical fountains, wall-integrated waterfalls, rockery watercourses and smaller standalone options, all with integrated lighting

Oase’s collection of water features range from curved or vertical fountains, wall-integrated waterfalls, rockery watercourses and smaller standalone options, all with integrated lighting

Water features such as sculptural, decorative fountains provide a central focal point in large-scale gardens and public environments, while even in smaller private gardens, features such as small ponds and rocky watercourses are proven to expand the space, both visually and through the soothing sound of natural flowing water.

Being soothed to sleep or gently woken by the sound of water is a luxury you don’t need an ocean sounds playlist to enjoy

With their aesthetic decoration and atmospheric audio comfort, carefully selected water features also improve air quality and temperatures in the ultra-local climate, while increasing bio-diversity by building new habitats for our water-dwelling friends as well. Whether traditional or contemporary, here are some of the different advantages a water feature can bring.
Wall-integrated waterfall kits from Oase install into existing walls (top), while smaller standalone fountains and waterfalls sit comfortably in concrete planters (bottom) on terraces and decks

Wall-integrated waterfall kits from Oase install into existing walls (top), while smaller standalone fountains and waterfalls sit comfortably in concrete planters (bottom) on terraces and decks

Increased audio comfort: hearing is seeing

Being soothed to sleep or gently woken by the sound of water is a luxury you don’t need an ocean sounds playlist to enjoy. In even the smallest outdoor spaces, water features can be integrated into the garden architecture. Oase’s Waterfall feature, for example, spouts water through a wide opening in an existing wall, before audibly splashing down into a waiting water reserve. Alternatively, if no suitable wall or standing water exists, the free-standing version projects the stream in a clean, wide waterfall, circular curved dome or one that fountains upwards.
C+P Möbelsysteme’s workplace intended waterwall partition (top) purifies and humidifies its interior surroundings, while Oliver Kessler’s Rain3 cube (bottom) does the same in a 3D format

C+P Möbelsysteme’s workplace intended waterwall partition (top) purifies and humidifies its interior surroundings, while Oliver Kessler’s Rain3 cube (bottom) does the same in a 3D format

Improve air quality: inside and out

It’s not just a home’s exterior space that benefits from inviting residential water to stay, meanwhile. The natural climate control, air purification and humidification properties of moving water applies, and is indeed magnified, in interior environments too. C+P Möbelsysteme’s Climate Office waterwall is part of a series of room dividers and screens designed to bring biophilic design into the workplace, but can apply to any project needing space division and cleaner, cooler air. In smaller interiors, meanwhile, where not division but multiplication is required, Oliver Kessler’s sculptural cube-housed Rain3 sits comfortably in a corner and expands the acoustic atmosphere with the sound of falling water.
A 26-foot high glass box parts the fountains of Liberty Piazza in Milan, allowing shoppers to enter the square’s underground Apple store, without getting wet. Photo: Nigel Young / Foster+Partners

A 26-foot high glass box parts the fountains of Liberty Piazza in Milan, allowing shoppers to enter the square’s underground Apple store, without getting wet. Photo: Nigel Young / Foster+Partners

Experience water, without getting wet

The concept of bringing controlled rainfall into interior environments brings to mind Random International’s world-touring Rain Room installation, allowing visitors to effectively pass through a heavy downpour without getting wet. At the Apple store in Piazza Liberty, Milan, meanwhile, visitors and shoppers are welcomed into the retail space through a similarly dry tunnel of rain. In splitting two lines of dancing fountains with a 26-foot high glass box, the immersive experience utilises the reflection of sunlight filtering through glass and water to create an environment that changes with the sun.
Arcing LED water jets from Oase create dancing performances with enough majesty for large public installations (top), and stylish private settings (bottom)

Arcing LED water jets from Oase create dancing performances with enough majesty for large public installations (top), and stylish private settings (bottom)

Put on a performance

Shooting like liquid fireworks into the sky, powerful water jets can offer fun and games to over-heating children in public squares, or delighted murmurings and aching necks to crowds of all ages. But you don’t have to recreate the Bellagio to see the benefit.

Powerful water jets induce delighted murmurings and aching necks in crowds of all ages, but you don’t have to recreate the Bellagio to see the benefit

Simpler arching jets in private settings have the same cooling, decorative and delightful effects in larger gardens. Multiple curved water jet fountains from Oase, for example, collate together to carve variously shaped, spaced and coloured water and light shows, in both public and private environments. Vertical jet fountains like the brand’s Trio, Quartet and Starlet iterations share the same versatility in light and colour, with a shorter radial impact, for impressive performances on a smaller stage.
Combining ponds, watercourses and waterfalls like WS1 from Bergmeister Kunstschmiede with greenery improves ultra-local bio-diversity and adds natural decoration too

Combining ponds, watercourses and waterfalls like WS1 from Bergmeister Kunstschmiede with greenery improves ultra-local bio-diversity and adds natural decoration too

Bio-diverse environments: suitable homes for all

With bio-diversity a growing concern for humanity, our collected and personal impact on environmental habitats is now constantly considered. The mammoth task of reversing the trend in urban sprawl, however, is often seen as a problem too big to fix with individual action. But there’s no need to think on such grand scales, to make big differences.
Even small, simple water features like ponds, standalone fountains or birdbaths provide homes, habitats, feeding or breeding grounds for smaller wildlife. Bergmeister Kunstschmiede’s WS1 Fountain depicts how, when installed alongside plants and rocks, bio-diverse environments can be created with ease. By adding water-baed plants like water lettuce and waterlilies, meanwhile, elements of texture and colour can also be applied, attracting both pond life and human activity.
Cyria’s Monsieur collection of outdoor water sources includes small taps (top) for playing children and standing showers (bottom) to clean feet, hands and bodies before heading inside

Cyria’s Monsieur collection of outdoor water sources includes small taps (top) for playing children and standing showers (bottom) to clean feet, hands and bodies before heading inside

Bring joy to outdoor spaces

Along with wildlife, water is imperative for a luscious, green garden too. But add children into the equation, and the result quickly turns from green to brown. With a rusted texture and colour, the Monsieur Fontaine water tap from Cyria has a look of an old-fashioned hand-pump well. The result blends into both traditional and contemporary garden backgrounds and, more importantly, gives children access to water for summer games and mud kitchens, without muddying up the real one.
© Architonic

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