Project 23 of 36
Fountain
- Year
- 2020
- Discipline
- Product
- Tools
- Blender
- Images
- 6
A drinking fountain for Knoxville, with P&C as the client. It began as something sculptural, to reflect the city's streets lined with fabrication shops showing off their work. It ended up looking ahead to where the city's design language was going, as World's Fair Park was renovated with modern facilities and handrails in steel and glass.
Overview
- Client
P&C, to replace existing water fountains in Knoxville.
- Requirements
Contracted during lockdown: ADA-compliant dimensions, no-touch operation, free-standing for simple, low-cost installation, and concrete as the primary material, since that's what the studio was known for.
- Site-specific
Each fountain is unique to its location: the topography is an abstraction of the place it stands, with water flowing down it into a dog bowl underneath.
- Manufacturing
The concrete is molded in two parts, the topography sits in a steel tray that swaps out for quick assembly, and an inset splash guard limits contamination, unlike a conventional fountain.
- Process
Speed-modeling ideation in Blender, then one form that checked every box.
Design language
Civic furniture that borrows its language from the city around it: the steel and glass of a renovated World's Fair Park, cast in concrete.
- Form
One bent ribbon rising from the path and folding over into the spout: a single gesture from ground to water.
- Material
Concrete for the body, with a steel tray holding the topography: heavy and permanent, with one swappable, site-specific piece.
- Site
The topography on top is an abstraction of the place it stands, so no two fountains are the same.
- Detail
Water runs over the topography into a dog bowl underneath, with an inset splash guard to keep it clean.
Gallery
