Millennium Park, Crown Fountain – Chicago, U.S.A 2004

In 2004, Chicago unveiled their newest landmark, Millennium Park. A collection of world class artists, architects, planners, landscape architects and designers were involved. Crystal Fountains worked with the artist Jaume Plensa on "The Crown Fountain", taking interactive art, technology and water shaping to new levels.

Features:

• 50' waterfalls cascading down 4 sides of two glass towers
• Joining Reflecting Pool – 232' long
• Custom "Gargoyle" Nozzle

Design Challenges:

The Crown Fountain is a water feature combining the latest in interactive art, technology and water shaping. Two lit glass towers face each other joined by a long reflecting pool. Water cascades down all four sides of each glass tower and, at night, LED lights create an impressive light show. But through the day, video is projected onto the face of each glass tower featuring an array of local Chicago faces. At selected times, the "face" opens its mouth and out streams a volume of water, much like ancient gargoyles. It's innovative design benefited from extensive testing to achieve the effects desired by the artist, Jaume Plensa and to ensure public safety.

• The specified building materials were glass block requiring all nozzles and fittings to be translucent but needing to be strong enough to withstand the stress of instant startups
• The artist also required the appearance of a large volume of water for both Gargoyle and waterfall effects but public safety concerns mean the water could not have a large impact
• Full-scale 50' mock-ups and application testing
• Development of a custom, translucent "gargoyle" nozzle

Crystal Fountains Solution:

In order to achieve the look desired by the artist Crystal Fountains created:

• Two "gargoyle" nozzles made from 2-4' thick blocks of UV stabilized cast acrylic to stand the stress of instant startups time and time again.
• Clear "O" rings, fittings and piping
• The removable faceplate was developed after almost a year of research and testing with different configurations and patterns, to create the magical effect of a solid dense stream of water coming from out of the nozzle that would be safe enough to stand under.
• A full-scale mock up of the waterfall at 50' was created to adjust water volumes and to determine safety of the waterfall. The final design was a solid looking stream of water that hit like a sprinkler head!
• The artist also collaborated on programs during the on-site commissioning

Results:

Today, The Crown Fountains is an impressive draw in Chicago's Millennium Park attracting visitors from around the world. Click here to view the project. The "Gargoyle" effect has been revamped and introduced into the Crystal Fountains catalog of products for use in commercial fountain projects. This custom product has also lead to other applications and has been used mounted vertically for a huge burst of vertical water.