How Water Features Transform Outdoor Spaces

Outdoor spaces are made for gathering, especially as the weather warms up. With the arrival of summer, families and communities come together to enjoy the great outdoors for recreation, celebrations and more. Water features can be a central part of those gatherings, whether for entertainment or simple enjoyment.  

Over the years, our team has had the opportunity to design, build and maintain water features that enhance a wide variety of outdoor spaces, from public parks to shopping malls, theme parks, and golf courses. Each design is unique, but all are created with the same purpose: to delight visitors.  

Adding Interest  

Whether installed at public spaces like Trinity Mills Station in Carrollton, Texas or retail centers like Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego, California, outdoor water features add interest and beauty. Water has a calming and serene effect that can transform a busy space that is bustling with traffic into a relaxing, attractive and even contemplative space. A water feature can also mask nearby noise pollution as well as deliver a beautiful focal point in a crowded public space. 

Creating Community 

When temperatures rise, there’s no better way to cool off than getting wet, and kids love to gather together to do just that. When we created the interactive splash deck and water feature for children at the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in Omaha, Nebraska, we knew kids would enjoy splashing around while they learned about the animals depicted in the bronze statues around them. What we couldn’t have predicted is how much of a draw the interactive water feature called “Alaskan Adventure” has become for the community. After this project’s completion, the Zoo broke all its previous attendance records with more than two million visitors—a testament to the power of outdoor water features to draw attendees and bring communities together.  

Entertaining Crowds 

Outdoor show fountains like the Illuvia fountain at EpicCentral in Grand Prairie, Texas can also be a community gathering space. Community members and visitors come out to see the free nightly shows and stay for dinner at one of the surrounding restaurants. Last summer, wait times at the lakeside restaurants surrounding Illuvia jumped up to four hours, but folks didn’t mind the wait when they had Illuvia’s mist to cool them off and a fantastic show to watch.  

Illuvia offers daytime shows with lights and music, but the full experience starts after dark and includes spectacular video projection. Featured on the local evening news, Illuvia is the main attraction at EpicCentral, where it drew crowds of more than 30,000 each week last summer.  

The entertainment value of outdoor show fountains can be generated by special effects as well, such as in the iconic show fountain at the Texas Live! entertainment complex in Arlington, Texas. This fountain features both fire and water, with vertical air cannons that shoot 60 feet in the air and dancing flame nozzles that captivate visitors of all ages. 

Water features offer much more than just aesthetics to any given outdoor space: they entertain, delight and soothe, and add value to properties. Most importantly, they offer a gathering place that brings people together to create memorable moments that will last a lifetime—and that is the true value of these amenities.