What's wrong with these images?

[Manfred M]

The first clue is that this isn't a public swimming pool, but a courtyard at the Kanagawa's Yokosuka Museum of Art.


Image 1




Image 2




Image 3




Yes, it looks like a pool complete with real water and ripples in the water, but the people in the large room below are part of the effect.

[pnodrog]

Simple, probably expensive but very effective. By the second photograph I had begun to suspect it was not a functioning pool but part of art work but it was not until the third photograph I was confident I had worked it out. (Before I read your confirmation - well I would say that)

Do you know if water was plastic or glass? Looks very clear.

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[IzzieK]

I am the same in thoughts as Paul...it is an art pool...

[chauncey]

I would have guessed either of two methods...a large sheet of hand blown window glass,
like my grandmother had in her home, or a plastic film to give the same effect.

[Manfred M]

Thanks for the comments. I guess where I wasn't clear enough, the surface of the pool was water (or at least a colourless, odourless liquid that behaved like water). There was a place where water poured into the pool, just as if it was coming out of a filter. It was deep enough to ripple (caused by the flowing water and a bit of wind (it was situated in an enclosed courtyard).

The material used must be quite strong, as I couldn't see any signs of any supports nor could I see any signs of where the material stopped and the room below started (the flowing water probably helped mask that). Glass and plastics will sag under their own weight, even without the added weight of several cm / inches of liquid on the surface.

When all was said and done, the illusion was quite realistic. As a scuba diver I've spent enough times at indoor swimming pools with divers sitting at the bottom of the pool being trained, so again I was looking for clues as to how this illusion was accomplished.