I am pondering a shade structure which is outside a building. Beneath in the shade are people waiting for rides, eating lunch etc. This structure has windows which are horizontal. The windows have white leaves on them which produce shadows below in the shape of leaves. Nice!

I propose a similar thing could be done but using a shallow pool. The pool itself would be the shade with a clear glass bottom. The water in the pool would attenuate the light coming thru. Within the pool would be fish, which would cast shadows. Other items could be added to the pool - floating on the surface or resting on the bottom - to produce interesting shadows. A splashing fountain would make some pretty wild and chaotic shadows - probably too edgy for the oldsters I see here waiting on rides but maybe appropriate for other venues. Other possibilities include colored water and bubbles.

At night there could be lights on top of the fountain, lighting the area below and again producing interesting shadows.
-- bungston, May 17 2012

Caustics https://www.google....F7iYKHUYxBcQQsAQIRg
what pomloc describes are called "caustics". 19thly turned me on to the term. [bungston, Feb 15 2017]

Sounds beautiful.

I wonder if it might be interesting to have a glass lid on part of it (no air space between water and lid) that will prevent ripples. The ripples will create a nice rippling shadow effects, so you want that on a large area of the pool, but those ripples will also distort the shadows of the fish. When the fish swim in the part of the pool with a lid on it, they will create much clearer shadows.
-- scad mientist, May 17 2012


[+] nice vision!
-- xandram, May 17 2012


I love the play of light when the sun reflects off a swimming pool into an otherwise darkened area.
-- pocmloc, May 17 2012


I like it. I wonder if you could do it with a thin sandwich of glass containing water between them and create moire pattern shadows below.
-- AusCan531, May 17 2012


If I ever build my 'dream house', you know - the one overlooking the bush valley below with an infinity swimming pool and I have the neighbouring kangaroos and cockatoos popping by for a visit - I will try and incorporate this idea over the bbq deck area.

When chatting to the camera on "Grand Designs Australia" I will be sure to give credit to [bungston] and the Halfbakery.
-- AusCan531, May 18 2012


I'm glad you bumped this. (+) I totally missed it somehow the first time around...

...and it gives me an idea.
You the dude.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Feb 15 2017


This would be very cool, in both senses. Water is very good at absorbing IR, so it would feel cooler on a sunny day without being dimmer - most excellent.

I'm not sure how well water absorbs UV, but the thick glass needed to support the water would certainly do so. That's important, because if you only removed the IR, people might overexpose themselves to UV in the belief that they were "shaded". So, another plus.

My only small sliver of doubt is that the bottom of this elevated pond would very quickly accumulate fish poo, algae, and anything that fell into the water and sunk, so it would need quite a lot of work to keep looking good. I'm thinking of the rooflights in my lab, which look dirty within a day of being cleaned.

But, on balance, definitely [+].
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 15 2017


What [norm] will say.
-- Voice, Feb 15 2017


The opposite of what [8th] will say, particularly the part about shaped charges.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 15 2017



random, halfbakery