Mark W. Fuller

Last updated
Mark W. Fuller
Born (1951-08-03) August 3, 1951 (age 70)
Alma mater Stanford (MS), 1978
Utah (BS, Civil Engrg), 1976
Highland HS, 1969 [1]
Occupationengineer, businessman
Years active1978–present
Known forPresident and CEO, WET Design
Notable work

Mark W. Fuller is president and CEO of WET, a fountain and water feature design firm in Los Angeles, California. The experiential water features designed by his company can be found at landmarks around the world.

Contents

Early life and education

Fuller was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. While he was in junior high school, he built a small pond in the backyard of his parents' house. [1] Fuller first visited Disneyland when he was fourteen, and was inspired to expand the fish pond with lagoons and underwater tunnels, using an old washing machine pump. [2] He credits that as his first fountain, built with the help of his grandfather and lit by lights using tomato juice cans. [1] He would later recall "Here I was, fooling around with a hundred-and-twenty-volt current, in water, but nobody seemed concerned." [2]

After graduating from Highland High School in 1969, [1] Fuller attended the University of Utah, majoring in civil engineering, which he chose because "it's the broadest [engineering discipline] and gives you a smattering of all the other types". [3] At Utah, Fuller also took an honors program with so many liberal arts classes that it took him an extra year to graduate, in 1976. [1] [3] Fuller nearly obtained a second degree in theater from Utah. He had started attending theater classes to meet actresses, but stayed on to develop stage effects, including an altar that spewed fireballs on command for a production of Agamemnon. [1]

After graduating from Utah, Fuller went on to attend graduate school at Stanford University, where he took several project design courses that gave him "a deep appreciation of form" and worked "blue-collar" jobs during the summers, graduating in 1978. [3] Fuller received an honorary doctorate from the University of Utah in 2015. [1]

Career

As part of his undergraduate thesis in Civil Engineering at the University of Utah, Fuller developed a large-scale laminar flow nozzle with two other seniors that has since been used extensively in WET's water features. [4] The first nozzle was used in a fountain installed in the atrium of The Conquistador, now an apartment building on 3300 South, but which has since been removed. [2] [1]

After graduating from Stanford, Fuller worked as an Imagineer for The Walt Disney Company, applying the laminar flow technology he developed and refined to create Disney's “Leapfrog” fountain feature at Epcot Center. [1] During the push to have the fountain ready for the opening of Epcot, Fuller did not sleep for four days. [2]

It's not at all about the size (of the fountain). It's about seeing people enchanted. [...] I like making people feel more glad to be alive.

— Mark Fuller, 2015 alumni profile, Continuum magazine. [1]

Fuller co-founded WET in 1983 with two other ex-Imagineers, Melanie Simon and Alan Robinson. [1] Their first commission was to create a water feature for Fountain Place, a Dallas skyscraper. [2] The company now holds more than 50 patents and employs over 200 employees of various disciplines — designers, architects, engineers, scientists, cinematographers and others.

Fountains of Bellagio at night (2006) Bellagiohotel.jpg
Fountains of Bellagio at night (2006)

He and his creative design firm are known for notable water features that include the Fountains of Bellagio, The Dubai Fountain, the CityCenter in Las Vegas, the rebuilt Revson Fountain at the Lincoln Center, and The Waters of the Olympic Park, featured in Sochi, Russia (designed for the 2014 Winter Olympics).

Honors and accolades

In 2010, Mark received the Themed Entertainment Association’s Thea Lifetime Achievement Award, [5] and was named one of Fast Company ’s Most Creative People. [6] Later that year, The New Yorker called him “the closest thing the world has to a fountain genius”. [2]

Fuller was featured in The New York Times ’s "Corner Office" business feature [7] in 2011, spoke at Salt Lake City's first TEDx on the topic of "Design Disintegration". [8] and was inducted into the Utah Technology Council’s Hall of Fame. [9]

WET Design received the American Institute of Architects’s “Allied Professions Honor Award", a Los Angeles Architecture Award for Landscape Architecture [10] [11] and Images of Universal Design Excellence Project Award. The company has also been named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in 2010 [12] and has been featured in Interior Design , [13] The New York Times, [7] [14] the Los Angeles Times [15] [16] and CBS News Sunday Morning . [17]

Personal

Mark is married to Susan Miller and has two children, Madison Fuller and Harrison Fuller.

Related Research Articles

Buckminster Fuller American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, and futurist

Richard Buckminster Fuller was an American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing more than 30 books and coining or popularizing such terms as "Spaceship Earth", "Dymaxion", "ephemeralization", "synergetics", and "tensegrity".

Epcot Theme park at Walt Disney World

Epcot, stylized in all uppercase as EPCOT, is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Inspired by an unrealized concept developed by Walt Disney, the park opened on October 1, 1982, as EPCOT Center, and was the second of four theme parks built at Walt Disney World, after Magic Kingdom Park. Spanning 305 acres (1.23 km2), more than twice the size of Magic Kingdom Park, Epcot is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely technological innovation and international culture, and is often referred to as a "permanent world's fair".

Frank Gehry Canadian–American architect (born 1929)

Frank Owen Gehry,, FAIA is a Canadian-born American architect and designer. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become world-renowned attractions.

Burj Khalifa Skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The Burj Khalifa, known as the Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration in 2010, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. With a total height of 829.8 m and a roof height of 828 m (2,717 ft), the Burj Khalifa has been the tallest structure and building in the world since its topping out in 2009, supplanting Taipei 101, the previous holder of that status.

Walt Disney Imagineering Research and development unit of The Walt Disney Company

Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, Inc., commonly referred to as Imagineering, is the research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation, design, and construction of Disney theme parks and attractions worldwide. The company also manages The Walt Disney Company's properties, from Walt Disney Studios in Burbank to New Amsterdam Theatre and Times Square Studios Ltd. in New York City. Founded by Walt Disney to oversee the production of Disneyland, it was originally known as Walt Disney, Inc. then WED Enterprises, from the initials meaning "Walter Elias Disney", the company co-founder's full name. Headquartered in Glendale, California, Imagineering is composed of "Imagineers", who are illustrators, architects, engineers, lighting designers, show writers and graphic designers.

Greg Lynn American architect

Greg Lynn is an American architect, founder and owner of the Greg Lynn FORM office and a professor at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture. He is CEO and co-founder of the Boston based robotics company Piaggio Fast Forward. He won a Golden Lion at the 2008 Venice Biennale of Architecture. In 2010 Lynn was named a fellow by United States Artists. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Canadian Centre for Architecture.

The Grove at Farmers Market Shopping mall in Los Angeles, California

The Grove is a retail and entertainment complex in Los Angeles, located on parts of the historic Farmers Market.

NBBJ American global architecture, planning and design firm

NBBJ is an American global architecture, planning and design firm with offices in Beijing, Boston, Columbus, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, Portland, Pune, San Francisco, Seattle, and Shanghai.

Canoga Park High School Public school in Canoga Park, California, United States

Canoga Park High School is a high school located in Canoga Park in the western San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is in the Los Angeles Unified School District. It is located at the start of the Los Angeles River, and adjacent to Topanga Canyon Boulevard to the west and Owensmouth Avenue to the east.

Italy Pavilion at Epcot Pavilion of World Showcase in Epcot

The Italy Pavilion is an Italian-themed pavilion that is part of the World Showcase, within Epcot at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, United States. Its location is between the Germany pavilion and The American Adventure.

UrbanLab American architecture and urban design firm

UrbanLab is an American architecture and urban design firm with headquarters in Chicago. Founded by Martin Felsen, FAIA, and Sarah Dunn in 2001, the office is known for its focus on sustainability, creative experimentation and a collaborative approach to buildings, spaces and cities.

WET, also known as WET Design, is a water feature design firm based in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1983 by former Disney Imagineers Mark Fuller, Melanie Simon, and Alan Robinson, the company has designed over two hundred fountains and water features using water, fire, ice, fog, and lights. It is known for creating The Dubai Fountain, the world's largest performing fountain, along with the 8-acre Fountains of Bellagio. It has designed features in over 20 countries around the world, in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Fountains of Bellagio

Fountains of Bellagio is a free attraction at the Bellagio resort, located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It consists of a musical fountain show performed in an 8.5-acre (3.4 ha) man-made lake in front of the resort. The show uses 1,214 water nozzles and 4,792 lights. The fountains shoot as high as 460 feet. Stages are sometimes built on the lake to host events, such as musical performances, that incorporate the fountain show.

Brooks + Scarpa

Brooks + Scarpa is an American architectural firm based in Los Angeles, California, and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA. Angela Brooks and Lawrence Scarpa are the recipients of the 2022 American Institute of Architect Gold Medal, the institute's highest honor. The firm was also chosen as the 2014 Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Award Winner in Architecture. In 2010 they were the recipient of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Firm Award. Los Angeles projects completed by the firm include the Solar Umbrella home in Venice, California, the Orange Grove lofts in West Hollywood and the Colorado housing project in Santa Monica.

The 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics venues are divided between two "clusters" located in and around Sochi, Russia.

Michael Maltzan American architect

Michael Maltzan is the principal architect at Michael Maltzan Architecture (MMA), a Los Angeles-based architecture firm. He received a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard University and both a Bachelor of Architecture degree and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Rhode Island School of Design. Maltzan was selected as a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 2007.

The Broad Art museum in California, United States

The Broad is a contemporary art museum on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles. The museum is named for philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad, who financed the $140 million building that houses the Broad art collections. It offers free general admission to its permanent collection galleries. It opened on September 20, 2015.

Martin Felsen American architect

Martin Felsen is an American architect and Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA). He directs UrbanLab, a Chicago-based architecture and urban design firm. Felsen's projects range in scale from houses such as the Hennepin, Illinois Residence, mixed-use residential and commercial buildings such as Upton's Naturals Headquarters, public open spaces such as the Smart Museum of Art Courtyard at the University of Chicago, and large scale, urban design projects such as Growing Water in Chicago and a masterplan for the Yangming Lake region of Changde, China. Felsen was awarded the 2009 Latrobe Prize by the American Institute of Architects, College of Fellows.

International Fountain Fountain and sculpture in Seattle, Washington, U.S.

The International Fountain, designed by Tokyo-based architects Kazuyuki Matsushita and Hideki Shimizu during 1961–1962 for the Century 21 Exposition, is a concrete fountain and sculpture installed in Seattle Center in the U.S. state of Washington.

Ahmad Jafari

Ahmad Jafari is an architect based in USA whose career began in the 1960s. He was with Disney Imagineering as an Architect and Art Director from 1966 to 2004 and has worked alongside Walt Disney and many Disney Legends. In 2006, he received the NFFC Disney Legend awards.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Jarvik, Elaine (Fall 2015). "A Big Splash". Continuum. The University of Utah. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Seabrook, John (January 11, 2010). "Water Music: The Fountain Architect Who Gave Water a Voice". The New Yorker. Condé Nast Publishing. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 Crook, Jordan (15 March 2016). "The story behind the most-recognizable fountains in the world". TechCrunch. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  4. ↑ Berry, Richard. "It's Only Water: Vol. 9, Issue 32". CNC Machining. Archived from the original on 2007-12-20. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
  5. ↑ "Recipients". Themed Entertainment Association. Archived from the original on May 2, 2012. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Most Creative People in Business 2010". Fast Company. June 2010. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  7. 1 2 Bryant, Adam (April 17, 2011). "Corner Office: Mark Fuller — WET Design and the Improv Approach to Listening". The New York Times. NYtimes.com. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  8. ↑ "TEDxSaltLakeCity - Mark Fuller - Design DisIntegration". TED.com. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  9. ↑ "UTC Welcomes Stephen Jacobsen and Mark Fuller as Class of 2011 Hall of Fame Inductees". Utah Technology Council. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  10. ↑ Basulto, David (28 July 2010). "2010 Los Angeles Architecture Awards". Architecture Daily. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  11. ↑ "Port of Los Angeles Receives Excellence Award From The Waterfront Center". Port of Los Angeles. 26 October 2009. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  12. ↑ "Most Innovative Companies — Design". Fast Company. June 2010. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  13. ↑ Cohen, Edie (June 2010). "Shooting for the Stars". Interior Design. The Crown Publishing Group.
  14. ↑ Pogrebin, Robin (August 26, 2009). "The Lincoln Center Fountain is Being Taught Some New Moves". New York Times. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  15. ↑ Satzman, Darrell (March 14, 2010). "How I Made It: Mark Fuller - A gushing combination of showbiz, engineering". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  16. ↑ Dunn, Samantha (May 2, 2010). "Fountain Head". LA Times Magazine. Tribune Company.
  17. ↑ "A Water Sculptor's Biggest Splash Yet". CBSnews.com. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.