William Pye - Water Sculpture

Having his design approved, the next major challenge was posed by the clients stipulating that normal office operations should continue with minimal interruption during the installation of the seventeen-metre high sculpture.
Limited access to the atrium through a standard door-opening presented a further problem,and the architect and engineer had to devise a structural design where no single piece was too large to pass through the opening. The seventeen-metre high polished stainless steel sculpture has pools of water at different levels that spill over the vertical surfaces in shallow rippling waves. Water collects at ground level in a large blue pool that further echoes the form of the Nautilus Shell in a series of shallow terraces defined by stainless steel risers. The challenge of creating such a large structure based on the same principles of water flow and collection as the earlier Mother and Child was exciting for Pye, as he continued to press forward with the myriad possibilities found when water and metal are used in combination.
Ango-American also commissioned a large mural from the painter Adrian Bartlett, which spans the atrium above the sculpture (opposite the lifts). Being a seascape, the predominant colour is blue and Bartlett collaborated with Pye to paint the low terraces with the aim of achieving a coordination between the top and bottom of the space.

See also Nautilus — Construction.