Mark Fuller (designer)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Mark W. Fuller is
president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
and CEO of WET, a
fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. Fountains were ori ...
and
water feature In landscape architecture and garden design, a water feature is one or more items from a range of fountains, jeux d'eau, pools, ponds, rills, artificial waterfalls, and streams. Before the 18th century they were usually powered by gravity, ...
design firm in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
,
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
. The experiential water features designed by his company can be found at landmarks around the world.


Early life and education

Fuller was born and raised in
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...
, Utah. While he was in junior high school, he built a small pond in the backyard of his parents' house. Fuller first visited
Disneyland Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...
when he was fourteen, and was inspired to expand the fish pond with lagoons and underwater tunnels, using an old washing machine pump. He credits that as his first fountain, built with the help of his grandfather and lit by lights using tomato juice cans. He would later recall "Here I was, fooling around with a hundred-and-twenty-volt current, in water, but nobody seemed concerned." After graduating from Highland High School in 1969, Fuller attended the University of Utah, majoring in civil engineering, which he chose because "it's the broadest ngineering disciplineand gives you a smattering of all the other types". 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. 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''. 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. Fuller received an honorary doctorate from the University of Utah in 2015.


Career

As part of his undergraduate thesis in
Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...
at the
University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...
, Fuller developed a large-scale laminar flow nozzle with two other seniors that has since been used extensively in WET's water features. 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. After graduating from Stanford, Fuller worked as an Imagineer for
The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...
, applying the laminar flow technology he developed and refined to create Disney's “Leapfrog” fountain feature at
Epcot Center 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 unreal ...
. During the push to have the fountain ready for the opening of Epcot, Fuller did not sleep for four days. Fuller co-founded WET in 1983 with two other ex-Imagineers, Melanie Simon and Alan Robinson. Their first commission was to create a water feature for Fountain Place, a Dallas skyscraper. The company now holds more than 50 patents and employs over 200 employees of various disciplines — designers, architects, engineers, scientists, cinematographers and others. He and his creative design firm are known for notable water features that include the Fountains of Bellagio,
The Dubai Fountain The Dubai Fountain is a choreographed fountain system located on the 12 hectare (30 acre) artificial Burj Khalifa Lake, at the center of the Downtown Dubai development in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It was designed by WET Design, a California-ba ...
, the
CityCenter Aria Campus, commonly known by its former name CityCenter, is a mixed-use, urban complex on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is located on and contains a total of . The complex includes Aria Resort and Casino, the Vdara condo-hotel, ...
in
Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
, the rebuilt
Revson Fountain Revson Fountain is a fountain installed in the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The fountain was dedicated in 1964 and a redesign was c ...
at the
Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...
, and The Waters of the Olympic Park, featured in Sochi,
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
(designed for the 2014 Winter Olympics).


Honors and accolades

In 2010, Mark received the
Themed Entertainment Association The Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) is an international non-profit association that represents creators, developers, designers and producers of themed entertainment. It is also noted for its THEA Awards, which were founded in 1995 and ar ...
’s Thea Lifetime Achievement Award, and was named one of ''
Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes six print issues per year. History ''Fast Company'' was launched in November 1995 by Alan Web ...
''’s Most Creative People. Later that year, ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' called him “the closest thing the world has to a fountain genius”. Fuller was featured in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''’s "Corner Office" business feature in 2011, spoke at Salt Lake City's first
TEDx TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...
on the topic of "Design Disintegration". and was inducted into the Utah Technology Council’s Hall of Fame. WET Design received the
American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...
’s “Allied Professions Honor Award", a Los Angeles Architecture Award for Landscape Architecture and Images of Universal Design Excellence Project Award. The company has also been named one of ''Fast Company''’s Most Innovative Companies in 2010 and has been featured in ''
Interior Design Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordi ...
'', ''The New York Times'', the''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' and '' CBS News Sunday Morning''.


Personal

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


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuller, Mark W. Businesspeople from Salt Lake City University of Utah alumni Stanford University alumni Living people 1951 births