H2O Suites is a luxury all-suites hotel in Key West, a city which has a mandate that 1% of all new construction project budgets be dedicated to Public Art. The owners, Meisel Holdings, and the project’s architect Peter Pike envisioned a water wall on the front facade of the hotel, but were rebuffed by the City when they requested Public Art status for the water feature. Chris Roy was brought into the team to continue developing the water wall and to turn it into Art.
Chris looked at the project’s tropical location and weighed that against the requirements of a successful water display (typically dark surfaces work best, to maximize the water’s contrast against the background), and began creating various blends of recycled crushed glass aggregate to create a roughened surface which would shred the water and be dark enough to the water to be easily visible while staying bright enough to match it’s fun tropical locale. The final blend consists of blues and teals inspired by the local waters as well as coral pink and champagne inspired by the tropical wildlife and the luxury resort atmosphere. Aggregates of different sizes as well as different color combinations were tested on a mock-up with interchangeable panels to ensure the feature looked great day and night, wet or dry. Color-changing fiber optic lighting with a twinkling effect was also integrated into the feature.
With testing complete, photos, videos, and samples in hand, Chris went to a hearing to explain to the city’s Arts and Culture Department why this feature should be qualified as Public Art. It is a water feature which has been created in response to its surroundings, with a great deal of time and effort expended on controlling the qualities of light and shadow, hue, brightness and contrast, to create a feature that wasn’t just a fountain stuck to the side of a building, but a sculptural work created for Key West that didn’t belong anywhere else. The City agreed and the Cascading Water Wall was granted Public Art status. If you’re ever in Key West, it’s on Simonton Street near the Southernmost Point; stop by and take a look!
