Designing With Water: Bluworld of Water
Bluworld of Water is an Orlando, Florida-based design consultant, engineer, producer, tester, shipper and installer of just about any indoor water feature you can envision. They recently created a piece for Orlando’s Mall at Millennia, in less than three months from initial conversation to installation, for just over $300,000.
“Just about everything on that project was challenging,” says William Michalski, design engineer. “Being that the feature is shaped like an eye, the acrylic and stainless steel features on this project needed to be very precise in every way. Special equipment was used to cut, shape and make the eye-shape acrylic bubble panels.”
The team created a stainless-steel reservoir to support the bubble panel and contain the necessary equipment, and a stainless-steel cover for both the reservoir and bottom of the bubble panel, to conceal the base.
“Our clients ask more questions about lighting and controllability to add another dynamic layer to their features, says Rob Morton, director of sales and marketing at Bluworld. “So we now offer many options for color-changing lights and water flow, including a control-panel system that allows different programming,” says Morton. This type of control allows the designer to change the water feature so that a person walking by only 10 minutes later would see a totally different feature both in color and water pattern.
Previous client Midstate Medical Center asked for a frameless water feature with the water on the back side of the glass, to avoid splashing and human contact, which can result in contamination. Bluworld created a fully integrated rolling ladder system, concealed in a 24-inch-deep space along the side, and attached it all to brackets on the ceiling. Clear tempered glass panels give a frameless appearance to the 20-foot-by-15-foot design. The possibilities are limitless.