The Bucket Fountain

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The bucket fountain

The Bucket Fountain can be found in Cuba Mall, which is part of Cuba Street in Wellington, New Zealand. ^[1] It consists of a series of "buckets" that fill with water until they tip, spilling their load into the buckets below. The fountain was designed by Burren and Keen in 1969. ^[2]

The Bucket Fountain appears not to work as designed, and much of the water does not reach the buckets below but instead splashes outside the fountain onto pedestrians and onlookers. On windy days (common in Wellington) water from buckets and the hose are carried several metres from the fountain. ^[3]

People often add dishwashing detergent to the water, which spreads bubbles all over the mall. This is common to see on Friday and Saturday nights.^{[citation needed]}

Wellington City Council upgraded the fountain in 2003, and some buckets were turned around so they intentionally tip their water onto the pavement. ^[4]

[edit] Incidents

Elijah Wood, who played Frodo in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies, climbed on and urinated in the fountain while in New Zealand filming the movies. This was confirmed by the actor during an interview with Jay Leno ^[5].

In March 2006, The bucket fountain was coated in a mud-like substance by New Zealand artist John Radford. ^[6]^[7]