The middle of the desert on the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula along the coast of the Persian Gulf would at one time have been one of the last places where one would find an ice skating rink — but the United Arab Emirates has one located in what is currently the second largest shopping mall in the world.
Sunday Morning Photograph February 20 2022: Dubai Mall Waterfall Wall.
Among the ice skating rink, a zoo, an aquarium, and multiple other entertainment options within The Dubai Mall is an enormous “landmark” at which people use to meet, which is known as either the Dubai Mall waterfall wall or Human Waterfall or Pearl Divers, who are part of the significant history of Dubai.
Illuminated by skylights overhead as well as by the sun shining through expansive windows — which create some interesting shadow effects — the Dubai Mall waterfall wall scales the entire height of four stories of the mall at 24 meters tall and spans 30 meters wide, which allows for every step to have a different view and focal point of the cascading water that flows past the sculptures of human figures which are attached to the pair of gigantic cylindrical walls.
Those human pearl diver sculptures are constructed of fiberglass, which simulate brushed silver metal.
At night, spotlights from under the pool of water below provide lighting of the wall.
An overhead reservoir consistently feeds recycled water down the walls, which not only creates an endless smooth rhythmic flow of water down its façade; but also deceives the eye with the mesmerizing illusion that the stationary human figures are moving rather than the water.
You can watch and listen to the relaxing sound of the water from numerous cafes and other areas of the mall which surround the wall.
Final Boarding Call
The Dubai Mall is located in Downtown Dubai near Burj Khalifa — you can read about my experience at the largest building in the world in this article and this updated article — in the United Arab Emirates. No admission is charged to see the Dubai Mall waterfall wall during the operating hours of the mall, which is open from 10:00 in the morning to 11:00 in the evening on weekdays; and from 10:00 in the morning through midnight on weekends.
Please click here for a complete list of the Sunday Morning Photograph series of articles at The Gate.
All photographs ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
