Fountains and Pools

Figure 8.29 Bridge leading through a fern and mixed hardwood forest.

Figure 8.30 A: Traditional courtyard fountain, Getty Villa in Los Angeles, by Emmett Wemple, landscape architect; B: Contemporary fountain and lake by Lawrence Halprin on the Dreamworks campus at the Presidio in San Francisco, California.

Fountains and other water features are also designed by landscape architects They can be made from a wide variety of materials in combination with a variety of equipment, such as pumps, nozzles, or lighting systems. As you will see in the following figures, material selection can produce many different shapes and ways of displaying water. The fountain in Figure 8.30A is a traditional fountain design of a Romanesque or Mediterranean style. The design is similar to fountains found in Spanish or Latin American courtyards and public spaces. The body of water with the central water feature in Figure 8.30B might be more difficult to place stylistically but is reminiscent of the romanticized water features that have elements taken from nature.

In contrast to these two water features that are found in contemporary public spaces, we turn to seventeenth-century France and the beyond exuberant display of water found at Parc de Sceaux designed by André Le Nôtre in Figure 8.31A. Nearly still water can also produce dynamic visual effects when the fountain is positioned to take advantage of the movement of sun during the day (Figure 8.31B). The materials used to build the fountain and the degree of roughness of their surface can reflect sunlight through the lens of the water (moving or still), creating a vibrancy normally associated with splashing water.

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Figure 8.31 A: Parc de Sceaux, Paris, by André Le Nôtre; B: Xintiandi, Shanghai, China.

Water assumes the form of the vessel that contains it. The water then can be brought to life by moving the water as in a stream or canal or by the water falling by gravity such as over rocks or down a constructed wall. Sunlight or artificial light is needed to increase the intensity of the lively quality of the moving water. Water can be caused to defy gravity with a force supplied by mechanical pumps through a nozzle or series of nozzles. A water stream is directed by mechanical means into the air, such as shown in the two images in Figure 8.31: Parc de Sceaux in Paris and Xintiandi in Shanghai or the fountains at the Santa Monica City Hall and Los Angeles’ Grand Park in Figure 8.32. Designed bodies of water can be still, quiet, and calm. The water comes to life with sunlight and the shadows cast by clouds or adjacent trees and structures as shown in the two examples in Figures 8.33A and 8.33B.

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Figure 8.32 A: Santa Monica City Hall fountain, by James Corner, landscape architect; B: Grand Park in Los Angeles, California, by Clementi and Ríos, landscape architects.