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James Designs specialises in architectural water installations for both interiors and out of doors.
Most well known for developing the Vortex Water Clock, James Designs combines artistic flair with the practical know-how of a qualified chartered engineer and fluid dynamicist.
James designs, builds, supplies, installs and maintains water features as well as advising on existing and planned installations.

GALLERY
A few examples:
Click on an image to find out more.

YIN YANG
The Yin Yang symbol is widely recognised but perhaps less well understood. The fountain is not only visually pleasing but is also a dynamic demonstration of the underlying concepts of Yin and Yang.
A model garden, incorporating four working maquettes, is shown here.
Each half of the symbol is a separate chamber and is filled via the stem, which produces a dome of water. When one chamber is full, water cascades over the central waterfall back into the other chamber; at any one time, one chamber will be filling whilst the other is emptying. Over a period of a few minutes, in a cyclical manner, the display reverses itself: Yin into Yang, Yang into Yin.
The water feature provides movement and stillness, activity and rest. Some may realise a better understanding of the philosophy represented by the symbol - but the form of the fountain and the sound of flowing water can be enjoyed by everyone.
The water features can be produced in a wide range of materials, styles and sizes.

VORTEX CLOCK
The Vortex Water Clock was first developed as a commission for the reception area of the award-winning headquarters for Wessex Water in Bath, England.
After an initial briefing, a number of concepts were presented around the revolutionary idea of a central whirlpool providing the mechanics of a clock.
The final installation, called the Wessex Clock measures 3 metres tall and 500mm in diameter. A pair of coaxial acrylic columns contain two separate volumes of water. The inner column contains the vortex, which varies in height according to the minutes in the hour and fills over one hour. The volume of water in the outer column, with a float on top, indicates the hour of the day and fills over a twelve-hour period.
The inner column empties on the hour. At twelve noon, both columns empty together. Lighting within the feature causes the water to sparkle at the top of the vortex. At night, the lighting projects a further image on to the ceiling of the foyer.
This accurate time piece is controlled from the plant room below. Superb water clarity is ensured by using fully deionised water, a UV steriliser, in-line filters and environmentally friendly water treatment means. The plant is controlled using a custom-built, microprocessor-driven management system - which has an automatic ability to correct for winter/summer time changes. Maintenance signals are provided to the main building management system.
 
WATER WALLS
This water wall uses copper, but it could be glass, acrylic, stone, or ceramic - with or without a logo.
Features like this are well-suited to areas where space is limited. They can be wall-mounted, or can stand alone. 

SLATE FEATURE
This feature is underway for St John's Hospital in Bath.
It comprises a natural slate boulder which has been machined to hold a copper font.
Water wells up in the font and flows over the boulder to the ground. Light, too, flows with the water to enhance the effect.
 

LANTERN FEATURE
For a private client in Sussex we produced this small garden feature. A Victorian gas lantern was adapted so that water could flow over its surface onto a slate-pebble tray set in a rustic wood frame. The water falling onto the pebbles makes an attractive and relaxing sound.

WHIRLPOOLS
Vortices are one of nature's most fascinating and dramatic creations. James Designs has the experience and expertise to create vortices – whirlpools - in water features and to get them right. A beautiful natural phenomenon captured in perfect form.
With a proven track record, James has developed the technology and designs over a number of years to create and control vortices. Now, based on this experience, we produce water features for both commercial and private clients for settings in and out of doors.
Open or closed, single or multiple vortex displays can be created in a water feature. We can produce perfectly-formed, air-bubble free, vortices of different forms and have the unique skills to vary the height of vortices with time, creating ever-changing displays which interact with natural and other sources of light.
We back up our creativity with excellent design, quality engineering, lighting and appropriate control systems to ensure that the displays are attractive, versatile and reliable. We design and can provide ongoing support for maintenance programmes to ensure that the water clarity, vortices and their reflections remain superb.The Wessex Clock is placed in the foyer of Wessex Water’s award-winning HQ in Bath. A two metre vortex rises and falls, indicating minutes of time. It is contained within a second column, where a float moves with the changing hours. Lighting in the display projects a constantly changing image above the clock.
We produce vortex tubes, vortex globes, vortex clocks and other time-driven displays. Vortex tubes can be produced in the range 100 to 600 mm diameter. Vortex globes can be from 400 to 1200 mm diameter. We are constantly developing new designs and forms.
Some of our work is shown here. Please contact us to discuss your feature.
 

ENGINEERING
Behind every installation is the reassurance of quality engineering and practical know-how.
New projects involve research and development and often prototypes are developed in the studio before full-scale pieces are progressed.
James Designs offer the back-up of a qualified chartered engineer experienced in project management and the security of many years of experience in pioneering architectural developments in fluid dynamics.
 
 
THE BRIEF
As well as the aesthetic and the creation of an exhilarating and even unique water-based sculpture that will add a totally new dimension to your chosen location, it is important for James Designs to assess the following practical considerations:
* Size and weight
* Design integration
* Materials (including durability, colour and finish)
* Electrical power supply
* Water supply, drainage, filtration, purification, evaporation, splashing, overflow, noise, the effect of filling by rain and the risk of freezing
* Effects of air movement
* Lighting
* Safety and children
* Commissioning, operation and maintenance
* Feng Shui
* Planting (if any)
 

FENG SHUI
Feng Shui - literally "wind" and "water" - evolved into a refined art from the simple observation that people are affected for good or ill by their surroundings: the layout and orientation of their workplaces and homes. The Chinese have long observed that some surroundings are better or luckier than others. Every hill, building, hall, window and corner and the ways in which they face wind and water have an effect. Improve the surroundings and you improve the lives of the people living within them.
The goal of Feng Shui is complete harmony with the environment or "natural order" which, when achieved, will bring prosperity, health and happiness.
Expressed another way, it is the art of achieving balance: it might even be seen as the external equivalent of Acupuncture or Shiatsu. Just as these practices aim to measure and balance energy flows within a person, Feng Shui aims to work on the environment in which we live.
Feng Shui also works with the concepts of Yin and Yang. In simple terms, to achieve one's full potential, it is essential to maintain a balance of Yin and Yang. The concept of Yin and Yang is a metaphor to describe how everything functions in relation to everything else... or perhaps in Isaac Newton's words: "to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction".
All of nature is in a process of constant change, in effect flowing between a state of Yin and Yang, night and day, cold and hot, stillness and movement, empty and full, contraction and expansion.
To the Chinese the life force within everything, that flows between Yin and Yang, is known as "Chi" and its movement is often represented by the flow of water.
In Feng Shui, moving water is felt to be one of the most effective ways of increasing the energy of a specific space or room or building. The sound and sight of running water within water features is, therefore, not only pleasing to the senses, but also provides a sense of movement, of energy, of life.
In the Yin Yang Fountain® the water moves in a cyclical fashion. This is at the heart of the concept of Yin and Yang in which everything is regarded as being in a constant state of flux. Still water is Yin compared to moving water, which is Yang. One chamber fills whilst the other empties.
Yin flowing to Yang; Yang flowing to Yin.
Clearly, there is useful synergy between the application of water fountains or features and the art of Feng Shui. At a simple level, it is surely agreed that water fountains bring pleasure and an improvement to their surroundings. If it is desired to follow the methods of Feng Shui, then the integration of water features can be achieved in sympathy with its ways.
In business, Feng Shui has been practised in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore for a long time and is now increasingly being used in America and the United Kingdom.

MISTING WEIR
This shallow tension pool, with Corian weirs, creates a glass-like waterfall which falls into an uplit reservoir. The rippling and misting fountains produce swirls of vapour that play in the wind. The lower weir creates further water displays.

Produced for The Freeways Trust in Bristol in conjunction with Michael Axford Chartered Architects.