Our Work

Water and light combine to create

a uniquely calming experience

Between the water’s varied motion settings and the light’s color combinations, the installation has more than 100 settings, ensuring variety and calm for tenants who encounter it daily.

Water effects and dynamic lighting combine to create a meditative, multisensory office experience.

Opportunity: Beacon Capital Partners asked ESI Design to create a refined experience in the lobby of 201 California with a clear focal point and unified feel.

Solution: ESI designed a mechanical, water-based light installation that gives the lobby a contemplative aura and provides a unique multisensory experience. The design draws inspiration from the building’s geometry and the natural environment of California and puts a fresh take on the lobby’s existing water feature.

The illuminated wall uses the natural interplay between light and water to generate changing surface textures. A pool of gently moving water is augmented with controllable light that projects rippling imagery onto the wall, evoking the behavior of sunlight hitting California’s mountain lakes and rivers.

Changing patterns are created as light is refracted through a pool of water onto the wall. Water drops into a pool through 13 computer-controlled valves, and waves are generated by two mechanical paddles. Together, the drops and the waves interrupt the surface of the water to keep the light patterns on the wall active and dynamic. Colored light adds even more diversity to the patterns, with the colors changing over the course of the day.

The colored light varies in shade, intensity, and combination over the course of the day, with different playlists corresponding to rush hours and off-peak time. Between the various texture and color combinations, the installation has well over 100 settings, ensuring variety for tenants who see it day after day after day.

On the exterior of the building, ESI designed a dimensional, faceted building ID with angled forms that reference the building’s prominent bay windows.

Result: The lobby re-design with dazzling new water-based light installation enhances the tenant experience and establishes 201 California as a leader in its class of commercial real estate buildings. After the renovation, Beacon Capital Partners succeeded in selling the building for a significant profit, just two years after they bought it.

Experience Design

Concept

Content

Data Visualization

Media

Software

Exhibits

Games

Graphics

Interiors

Sound

Staff Training

Systems

Wayfinding

Activities

Identity

Production

Together, the drops and the waves interrupt the surface of the water to keep the light patterns on the wall active and dynamic, mimicking the sunlight hitting California’s lakes and rivers.

13 computer-controlled solenoid valves

2 paddles at either end of the pool

Latest

201 California Street

San Francisco, CA • 2019

Water and light combine to create

a uniquely calming experience

Between the water’s varied motion settings and the light’s color combinations, the installation has more than 100 settings, ensuring variety and calm for tenants who encounter it daily.

Water effects and dynamic lighting combine to create a meditative, multisensory office experience.

Opportunity: Beacon Capital Partners asked ESI Design to create a refined experience in the lobby of 201 California with a clear focal point and unified feel.

Solution: ESI designed a mechanical, water-based light installation that gives the lobby a contemplative aura and provides a unique multisensory experience. The design draws inspiration from the building’s geometry and the natural environment of California and puts a fresh take on the lobby’s existing water feature.

The illuminated wall uses the natural interplay between light and water to generate changing surface textures. A pool of gently moving water is augmented with controllable light that projects rippling imagery onto the wall, evoking the behavior of sunlight hitting California’s mountain lakes and rivers.

Changing patterns are created as light is refracted through a pool of water onto the wall. Water drops into a pool through 13 computer-controlled valves, and waves are generated by two mechanical paddles. Together, the drops and the waves interrupt the surface of the water to keep the light patterns on the wall active and dynamic. Colored light adds even more diversity to the patterns, with the colors changing over the course of the day.

The colored light varies in shade, intensity, and combination over the course of the day, with different playlists corresponding to rush hours and off-peak time. Between the various texture and color combinations, the installation has well over 100 settings, ensuring variety for tenants who see it day after day after day.

On the exterior of the building, ESI designed a dimensional, faceted building ID with angled forms that reference the building’s prominent bay windows.

Result: The lobby re-design with dazzling new water-based light installation enhances the tenant experience and establishes 201 California as a leader in its class of commercial real estate buildings. After the renovation, Beacon Capital Partners succeeded in selling the building for a significant profit, just two years after they bought it.

Together, the drops and the waves interrupt the surface of the water to keep the light patterns on the wall active and dynamic, mimicking the sunlight hitting California’s lakes and rivers.