The luminous centerpiece in Beijing Finance Street's central park was a WET collaboration with SWA Group and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, as part of the regeneration of a 35-block business and financial district just west of the Forbidden City.

A dense block of water jets—nearly 400 in all—creates a kind of liquid forest, where visitors may explore its interior pathways, but are never entirely safe from getting soaked. The glossy-when-wet plaza floor reflects the surrounding district, while the continuous renewal of water forms metaphorically mirrors the rebirth and redevelopment of Beijing itself, and perhaps the entire country.

After sundown, the feature becomes a twinkling make-believe city—and a festive one at that, for amid its liquid skyscrapers, water rockets launch high above the plaza. The water soars so high, in fact, that it nearly disappears, as if the fountain is gradually being pulled into the stratosphere.