2013/5.1, May 8 — Theatrical Aquatics, the ABCs of Waterfall Installation, Maya Lin’s Watershapes and more

Certainly one of the world’s most unusual watershaping achievements, ‘Le Reve’ is a Las Vegas-style aquatic production that carries audiences into an amazing dream world of water, light, music and incredible acrobatic skill. To achieve the water effects, former Cirque du Soleil producer Franco Dragone turned to Aviram Müller and Canada’s Kaarajal Design Aquatique — and the result is a marriage of watershaping art and technology unlike any other.

Setting up a naturalistic pond’s waterfall is painstaking work, says Eric Triplett — especially if you’re focused on creating convincing results. In this pair of videos, he shares and discusses his own approach to what he describes as a thoroughly improvised dance. [more]

Most people know Maya Lin for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, but watershapers should get out and see more of her work, notes William Hobbs, whose company has long helped produce water effects for the famous artist as she explores the mysteries of time and nature. [more]

WATERSHAPES WORLD

Giant Steps

In his latest blog, Jim McCloskey announces two great features now offered at WaterShapes.com — one that will make the site much easier to navigate, the other completely altering the way we work with the images that accompany our feature articles. Very cool stuff. [more]

PONDCRAFT

Ponds on the Level, Part 3

There are several fine options when it comes to auto-fill systems for pond applications, writes Hollye G. Merton in the third and concluding part of her series on this technology. Here’s a look at how you compare them and make the right choice for the pond at hand. [more]

Valves are so familiar a part of watershapes that it’s easy to take them for granted. But that’s unwise, notes Steve Gutai, who knows that the efficiency and serviceability of many installations would be improved if designers and builders took fuller advantage of their valve options. [more]

WHAT’S NEW?

Now at WaterShapes.com . . .

We’ve just revolutionized the way you’ll look at articles on WaterShapes.com, taking advantage of web technology to make it possible for you to enlarge most images to nearly full-screen size with the aid of your cursor. To see what we mean, click here — then click again on any photo!

Two American Tourists Forced to
Swim 12 to 14 Hours to Survive

Many water-related stories have been in the news of late – including reports connected to the three questions below.

1. Operators of a U.S. nuclear power plant were dismayed to discover a pair of goldfish swimming in an underground steam tunnel at the facility’s reactor – not considered a good sign for security at the installation, since the goldfish probably did not get there on their own. Where is the plant?

a. Avila Beach, Calif. b. Wintersburg, Ariz. c. Marseilles, Ill. d. Perry, Ohio

2. A public swimming pool in Blue Earth, Minn., is employing a high-tech method to identify people who are eligible to use the facility. What is the method?

a. Eye scan b. Finger scan c. Voice analysis d. Hair analysis.

3. The website freemalaysiatoday.com has identified what it considers to be “The best five pools of the globe” – all of which are at hotels. The first four are in Switzerland, Singapore, China and France. Where is the fifth?

a. Thailand b. UK c. USA d. Singapore.

To find out how many you got right, click here.