Zulu Alpha Kilo designed better fire-hydrant caps to create mini water parks for NYC summers

It’s a tradition that dates back well over a century, as captured in this amazing New York Times photo essay—residents of New York cooling off amid the stifling heat of summer by opening fire hydrants and playing in the spray of water.

It’s illegal to open a hydrant by yourself—the force of water can knock children over and injure them—but the fire department will generally help adults open them, and even supplies caps for reducing the volume of water rushing out.

Now, the New York office of agency Zulu Alpha Kilo has introduced a hydrant-cap innovation designed to make the iconic tradition both more playful and less wasteful. The project is called “Splash Spots,” and it involves a redesign of the hydrant cap to reduce water flow by a further 50%—while creating four different kinds of water sprays to delight the kids who are often first in line for a cooldown.

This video explains how it works:

“These really are first of their kind. Splash Spots aim to bring joy, a smile and a little cooldown to everyone who comes across them,” said Tim Gordon, chief creative officer of Zulu Alpha Kilo NY.

Gordon told The New York Times (which led its New York Today newsletter on Friday with a Splash Spots profile) that he got the idea over Fourth of July weekend when he was out running and happened to see a hydrant open and spraying, but with no one there. Soon, with help from industrial design firm Group Project, the agency was producing Splash Spots for use citywide.

“The design is both iconic and functional,” said Stephanie Yung, chief design officer at Zulu Alpha Kilo. “We collaborated closely with our industrial design partners at Group Project to help bring our team’s vision to life.”

There are four designs—Sunshine (as seen at the top of this story), Pinwheel, Jump Rope and Blossom (all seen below). “We engineered Splash Spots to be pieces of art that you could really play with,” said Colin P. Kelly, founder of Group Project.

A launch event scheduled for Sunday in partnership with NYC nonprofit Street Lab was canceled, but the agency said it is working to create more opportunities for New Yorkers to experience Splash Spots this summer.

“This is just the beginning—perhaps some day in the future Splash Spots will be available in every firehouse across the five boroughs,” said Gordon.