First of all, one perceives a water wall with the eyes. The human eye is evolutionary programmed so that it automatically focuses on moving objects. What’s more, our reptilian brain tells us that water is safe, that water is a friend—that it is good to be near water.
These reasons allow a water wall to attract attention naturally. It works like a magnet for customers and ensures that more customers come to the store and remain longer. This automatically leads to the fact that more revenue can be generated for the business.
Luxury design
For the most part, large water walls are not only fascinating but also give such an impressive touch that highly successful companies love to place them in the entrance area to create an atmosphere of luxury, exclusiveness and high-quality. Some architects, who work with the most creative and unusual objects, like to incorporate a water wall as a design element.
What is worth mentioning here, is that the water itself is clear, and what one actually sees is the glitter of the ambient light that is reflected from the water waves. It is therefore important to consider the effects of light when planning a water wall.
Apart from aesthetics, water walls have purely pragmatic functions. We are listing some examples for you below.
Air cleaning from dirt and odors
Apart from dirt and dust, a water wall cleanses the air from odors. These three practical examples show how it works indeed.
1. Smoky foyer was odorless overnight
A company in Kempten has a 10m² large wall of water in a 150m² large foyer, where people smoked vigorously during an evening event. The next morning, the technician was surprised that absolutely nothing was left of the smell of cigarette smoke, even though the room was not aired. But when he glanced into the water reservoir of the water wall, he immediately realised what happened. The water in the water tank with an 800-litre capacity was discolored with a brown-yellow hue—which revealed that all of the nicotine smoke in the atmosphere had dissolved in the water, and thus the stench had also disappeared from the foyer.
2. Kitchen smells in department store
A department store could do nothing to control the kitchen smells of neighbouring restaurants harassing their retail area. It was only when a wall of water was installed, that the kitchen smells were gone from the retail space.
3. Suffering employees in a perfumery
In a large perfumery, employees suffered ill health due to a constant exposure to large amounts of perfume substances in the air. Symptoms included headaches, poor concentration and malaise. As a water wall was installed, the scents from the air disappeared along with the staff’s health problems.
Feng Shui reasons
Another reason to user water walls comes from Feng Shui—the ancient oriental knowledge about arranging space. Most Feng Shui books and consultants recommend a fountain or a water feature in, or next to the building in order to increase life energy and to generate wealth. And because Feng Shui is a widespread belief in Asia, it is not surprising that in most Asian restaurants, you can find an aquarium or a fountain. According to the Feng Shui sayings in China, running water increases life energy, and where life energy flows, money flows too.
In addition to this, water symbolizes communication, so that a water wall with flowing water is there to improve communication in the area. However, the position, the elements and the direction of water flow play an important role. So, for example, the water should always flow towards the house so that the flow of life energy and money is received by the house and not vice versa. In addition, no red colors should be used in water walls, because the red color stands for fire and fights the element of water.
If you are interested in Feng Shui, you should consult a feng shui consultant when choosing the site and when designing a water wall.