H2O Suites is a luxurious all-suites resort located in the heart of Key West. Developed and operated by Meisel Holdings, the resort, designed by Pike Architects, wraps around a central courtyard filled with a lush tropical garden designed by Nielsen Landscape Architects. This water feature is the centerpiece of the courtyard, and the geometric forms are comprised of a variety of interwoven basins, cascades, pools, planters, and fire pit.
One of the unique aspects of this water feature is its fineness and lightness in the space. The project owners and design team were worried that the raised basin walls would look too “clunky” within the space if they were built with 8″ thick concrete walls typical for fountain construction. Taking this into consideration, Chris specified a structural system for the upper portions of the walls which makes use of non-metallic rebar and concrete with high compressive strength, ensuring that the walls would have plenty of strength and no chance of rusting rebar expanding and destroying the walls from within. This system allowed the cast-in-place concrete walls to be constructed with concrete as narrow as 3″ thick and so far they have performed very well – they hotel and water feature have been operational for over 5 years and have even been through a few hurricanes – so far no cracks and no leaks.
We look forward to putting our knowledge and expertise to work for you to create new details like these that will help your projects rise above “typical.”
