Crown Fountain

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Fountain interactively spouting water on visitors

Crown Fountain

Jaume Plensa, 2004

black granite reflecting pool dual LED screen, glass brick sculptures Height: 50 feet (15 m)

Chicago, Illinois, Millennium Park

Crown Fountain, located in Millennium Park, is an interactive public fountain in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Designed by artist Jaume Plensa, it opened in July 2004.^[1][2] The fountain consists of a black granite reflecting pool located between a pair of technically sophisticated opposing glass brick towers. The towers are 50 feet (15.2 m) tall^[1] and use complicated electronics. Construction and design of the Crown Fountain cost $17 million.^[3] Throughout most of the warmer months, water continually cascades down the two sculptures, while water intermittently spouts through a nozzle located on each of the structures' front faces. The fountain is known for the digital videos of Chicago residents it displays continuously throughout the year.

The fountain has been praised by both city residents and trained architects for its artistic contribution to Millennium Park.^[4] It has a reputation as a public play area and allows people an escape from summer heat. When the National Weather Service issues summer heat advisories and the Governor of Illinois is compelled to declare state office buildings as official daytime cooling centers, the national press points to Crown Fountain as a respite not only for Chicagoans, but also for residents of the most remote reaches of the Chicago metropolitan area.^[5] Weather permitting, the water operates from May 1st to approximately October 31st.^[6]

Crown Fountain has found its way into Chicago pop culture. It is a popular subject for photographers and a common gathering place. Its use of video clips of local residents not only makes the fountain a place to see others and to be seen, but also makes it a place where hundreds of Chicagoans go to attempt to see themselves appearing on one of the fountain's two screens.^[7] When surveillance cameras were installed atop the fountain, a public outcry led to their immediate removal. The fountain and the entire park in general are highly-regarded for their universal design.^[8]

Contents 1 Artistry 2 Architecture 3 Surveillance controversy 4 Notes 5 External links

[edit] Artistry

Crown Fountain, designed by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, was unveiled during the July 16-18, 2004 grand opening celebrations for Millennium Park.^[9] The park was conceived in 1998 as the capstone of Grant Park to celebrate the new millennium and to feature world-renowned architects, artists, designers, landscape architects, and urban planners.^[8] Within Millennium Park, the fountain is located on the east side of Michigan Avenue across from the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District, north of the Art Institute of Chicago and south of the McCormick Tribune Plaza and Ice Rink between Madison and Monroe Streets. It sits with a northward backdrop that not only includes some of the tallest buildings in Chicago, but also includes some of the tallest buildings in the world, especially the skyscrapers along Randolph Street: Aon Center, One Prudential Plaza, Two Prudential Plaza, and Smurfit-Stone Building. Skyward viewers also see the eastern backdrop of Lake Michigan.

The $17 million construction and design cost was largely funded by the Crown family, who donated $10 million and for whom the fountain is named.^[2][10] The Goodman family (Goodman Theatre) was also a large contributor.^[3] The fountain's black granite reflecting pool measures 48 feet by 232 feet (15 m × 71 m) and has an approximate water depth of 0.25 inches (0.6 cm).^[1] It includes two LED screens encapsulated in a glass brick superstructure, one at each end, measuring 50 feet by 23 feet by 16 feet (15.2 m × 7.0 m × 4.9 m).^[1] The project won the 2006 Bombay Sapphire prize for its design work with glass.^[11]

The towers' front faces are animated through a continuous, dynamic exhibit of lights and electronic images.^[1] While the LED screens periodically display clips of landscapes or natural waterfalls, the towers are known for displaying the faces of Chicago residents. About 1,000 faces of Chicagoans are displayed in random rotations^[2] using a Barco Show controller.^[3] The artist intends to portray the social evolution of the city by updating the collection of images.^[1] The subjects were chosen from local schools, churches and community groups, and the filming began in 2001 at the downtown campus of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Of the original 1,051 subjects filmed, 960 videos were determined to be usable for the project. A June 2007 article in the Chicago Sun-Times reported that many of the subjects who had their images digitized for the project had yet to see their own images, or hear of anyone who had seen them.^[7] Each face is displayed for five minutes, one minute of which is devoted to spouting water.^[7] There is brief period between the each five-minute video during which the sculpture is not lit. As a result, at most 12 faces appear per hour.

The water spouting from the front faces of the towers has the illusion of flowing from mouth's of displayed subjects. To achieve this effect, each video has a segment where the subject's lips are puckered, which is then timed to correspond to the spouting water, reminiscent of gargoyle fountains.^[12][1] When the water is not spouting out of the nozzle on the front of the tower, it cascades down each of the facades. Images are shown 24 hours a day year-round, while the water feature only operates from mid-spring through mid-fall each year, weather permitting. In 2006, for example, the water feature opened on April 15.^[12] Each glass tower is illuminated from within on three sides by approximately 70 color-changing Color Kinetics LED lighting fixtures per tower, while the fourth side features opposing Barco LED display screens. The outer Color Kinetics surfaces randomly display one of eight colors along with each of the inner opposing faces. At night some of the videos are replaced by images of nature or solid colors.^[3]

[edit] Architecture

After two architectural firms refused the contract to make Plensa's design a reality, the firm Krueck & Sexton Architects accepted it despite it being a departure from their residential and corporate office-dominated portfolio.^[13] They designed a special stainless steel T-frame both to bear the gravity load of the 50 feet (15.2 m) walls and to withstand the lateral wind forces. The frame holds all the glass blocks and transfers the load to the base in a zigzag pattern. Rods measuring 0.5 inches (12.7 mm) in diameter anchor to the structure and project into the frame for lateral stability, while triangular corner brackets add support.^[14]

The glass was custom made at a factory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and fitted into small sections of the frame. The glass is white glass rather than the usual green glass that results from iron impurities. Each block is 5 inches by 10 inches by 2 inches (13 cm × 25 cm × 5.1 cm) with glass thin enough to avoid image distortion, with one out of the six faces of the block polished; the other five surfaces are textured.^[2]

Crown Fountain has both cracks and a grate for drainage (pictured above right) to drain the 11,520 US gal (43,608 l/9,592 imp gal) of water per minute.^[15] The water is filtered, pumped and recirculated through the fountain. Dual pump rooms below each tower draw water from a reservoir beneath the reflecting pool. There are twelve mechanical pumps which are regulated from a control room located in the underground parking garage beneath the fountain.^[16]

Getting the water to the spout took some ingenuitgy. Although consideration was given to omitting an LED tile, it was determined that the images would look like they were each missing a tooth. Instead, one tile in each tower is recessed about 6 inches (15 cm) to allow the installation of 1 inch (2.5 cm) clear tubing for the water feature.^[2] The water continuously spills over the fountain down the sides of the towers and intermittently spouts from the nozzle.^[2] Two essential custom fittings contribute to the artistic vision of the fountain: a custom glass block at the upper edge for guiding the water's descent while remaining unobtrusive, and a plastic nozzle fitted to the stainless steel frame to control the rate of waterflow and reduce liability to the city for any injuries sustained by the fountain's interactive participants.^[14] The interactive participants are usually children playing in the stream from the water spout or under the cascade. Concern over the spouting water potentially knocking people down made the design a legal, as well as physical, challenge.^[14]

The physical demands of LED screens, in particular the red, green, and blue long-life light bulbs and the requisite circuitry, created three major challenges: supporting the physical structure, combating heat buildup, and optimizing legibility of the display.^[14] Plesna had used LED fixtures on previous projects, and thus had some experience with these issues.^[3] The LED structure is not supported as a 50-foot (15 m) wall, but rather as segments that are noticeable by visible horizontal bands that show where the LED equipment is supported every few feet. The heat is handled by fans that cool the air at the bottom that works its way through the chimney-like tower. Legibility was determined to be optimal with LED lights 2 inches (5.1 cm) behind the glass.^[14]

LEDs were chosen as they were viewed as the lowest maintenance out of the color changing fixtures options.^[3] LEDs differ from standard light bulbs because they fit into an electrical circuit so that illumination results from the movement of electrons in the semiconductor material. A filament is unnecessary, so the bulbs never burn out and do not get too hot. Fins were added to the screens to keep direct sunlight from hitting the LEDs.^[17] ColorBlast 12 fixtures are used to illuminate the tower structures and glass in an attempt to meet Plesna's objective that the towers have a light and translucent appearance, with their internal structures reflecting light from behind the glass surface. The electronics were designed to be adaptable to the time of day, weather and season and to meet the desired century-long longevity and dependability objectives.^[3]

An additional challenge was designing the structure to facilitate interior access for ongoing maintenance and repairs, while accommodating two levels of underground parking underneath. The challenge was solved by combining a T-bar grid to absorb weight, with about 150 "outriggers" or "tiebacks" inserted through the video wall to support the glass blocks and absorb wind loads. This design allows for the removal of individual glass blocks for cleaning or repair without disruption to the display. The filtered air inside the towers helps minimize the need for cleaning.^[2][18] In addition to the interior access for technical repairs, Crown Fountain is reputed for its exemplary non-discriminatory barrier-free accessibility because its interactivity is not limited to the able-bodied.^[8][3]

The control center for the synchronization of images, water flow, and lighting color and intensity is beneath one of the towers in a 550 square feet (51 m²) room. The room houses high-definition video servers and equipment temperature sensors. Hard drives contain all the individual files of faces. Generally, the computer programs automatically perform tasks such as determining when the face will pucker and, if weather conditions permit, when to turn the water on and off. It was determined that using low- rather than high-resolution images was both less expensive and looked better on the displays.^[2] A Barco Show Controller selects the sequence of faces one at a time and along with a random tower lighting selection of one of eight LED colors programmed into an Electronic Theatre Controls (ETC) Emphasis® control system.^[3] At night, the ETC system controls spotlights that illuminate the cascading water and are dimmed by special wet-use location ground fault circuit interrupters.^[3] The control room covers 26 parking spaces in the underground parking garage, which costs the city $100,000 in terms of the opportunity cost of lost revenue.^[19]

[edit] Surveillance controversy

The Crown Fountain became the focus of a public controversy when the city added surveillance cameras atop of each of the towers in November 2006. Purchased through a $52 million Department of Homeland Security grant to the Chicago area, the cameras were part of a surveillance system augmenting eight other cameras covering the entirety of Millennium Park.^[20] The city claimed the cameras, similar to those used throughout city at high-crime areas and traffic intersections, were intended to remain on the towers for several months until permanent, less intrusive replacements were secured.^[21] City officials had consulted the architects who collaborated with Plensa on the tower designs, but Plensa himself had not been notified.^[22] Public reaction was negative, as bloggers and the artistic community decried the cameras on the towers as inappropriate and a blight.^[21][22] The Chicago Tribune quickly published an article concerning the cameras and the public reaction. The next day the cameras were removed, despite the city's claims that they were harmless. Plensa supported the removal.^[21]

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Millennium Park map
• City of Chicago Loop Community Map
• Picture of controversial surveillance camera

Coordinates: 41°52′53.34″N, 87°37′25.44″W

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	Chicago Loop/Historic Michigan Boulevard District		Boeing Gallery
		Crown Fountain
	Chicago Loop/Historic Michigan Boulevard District	Art Institute of Chicago	Art Institute of Chicago