FOUNTAIN COMPETITION, PHILADELPHIA FAIRMOUNT PARK ART COMMISSION
This fountain was to be located within the open city block that terminates the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in front of City Hall. The landscaping and paving layout, including the 90 foot diameter basin for the fountain itself, were elements established by the competition program. The Parkway acts as an important arterial approach to the center of the city and focuses on the dominant form of City Hall — the field against which the fountain is to be viewed. These characteristics of space, form, scale, and circulation, which make up the context of the fountain, largely determine its form. The form is big and bold so that it will read against its background of big buildings and amorphous space, and also from the relatively long distance up the Parkway.
The scale of the water’s action matches that of the sculpture: the central jet is 60 feet high and relates to the scale as well as to the axis of the Parkway. Its Constant stream is shielded from the prevailing wind by the concave, inner surface of the sculptural form. It is exposed only toward the Parkway, and it is set off by the dark background of the enclosure.
If the inner surface of the sculpture is concave to accommodate to the large-scale water action there, the outer surface is convex to accommodate to the small-scale water action outside. This consists of a constant sheet of water issuing from a weir near the top of the surface and continuously dripping from its lower edge into the pool. The legend HERE BEGINS FAIRMOUNT PARK is glimpsed through a screen of droplets. The material is aluminum to lighten the weight on the spans of the garage below.(ZODIAC17, 1967)
-Location : JFK Plaza, Philadelphia, PA
-not built
See p.4618
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