Wall Relief and Water Wall for a Cultural Centre

A forecourt where a large brushed relief and a continuous water wall sit side by side on the same elevation, read together from the street and separately from the entrance canopy.

Two different problems on one wall: a static panel that must stay flat, and a hydraulic system that must deliver an even film of water without soaking the paving in front of a public entrance.

The brief

Dress a blank 12 m concrete forecourt wall. Half of it becomes a sculptural relief that reads in the low raking light of a northern European winter; the other half becomes a water wall that masks street noise at the cafe seating.

Design approach

The relief is composed from folded facets at varying depths, angled so the sun rakes across them and light does the work that colour cannot. The water wall shares the same 4.2 m datum, so the two halves read as one intervention rather than a panel with a fountain attached.

Material & engineering

304 stainless for an inland, un-chlorinated site, with the water wall’s wet surfaces passivated and the catch basin kept in a separate circulation loop. The wall behind was surveyed for flatness before fabrication: panel standoff varies from 40 to 120 mm, absorbing 18 mm of substrate deviation without visible distortion.

The water wall is a closed loop — head tank, weir, catch basin, pump, filtration — sized for a 6 m falling film at 55 l/min/m with a variable-speed pump so the sheet can be tuned on commissioning.

Fabrication & finish

Relief facets were press-formed and seam-welded from the back so no weld is visible from the viewing side. Grain direction on the water wall runs vertically, which both hides the water film’s edge and survives the limescale that horizontal grain would show.

Installation

Concealed Z-clips on a surveyed rail system, allowing thermal movement across a 12 m run without oil-canning. The water wall was commissioned over two days, with the pump curve trimmed until the film was even across the full width.

Outcome & value

The trust reported the forecourt has become the building’s photographed elevation, and the water wall’s variable-speed pump cut running cost by roughly a third against the specified fixed-speed unit.

Related guides

• Wall art, reliefs and water walls
• Stainless steel finishes explained
• Water feature engineering