This was a contest for the restoration of 3 old and damaged buildings in the city. We were invited by the Museum and the civic initiative to choose for which facility we will provide solutions. I chose a not-so-old but damaged fountain that was a gift from Poland to our city. My childhood was tied to that fountain. There was my grandfather's house nearby and the fountain was the point we were allowed to go to as children. It has been one of the most recognizable and characteristic architectural works in the city for years.
We were supposed to add drawings in Sketch up and we got the existing plan.
and few photos
I start from the fact that it does not need much change, but to give it a purpose in that space through which it will live every day, it will attract people of different age categories, and at the same time the functionality of the fountain itself will return.
In my project, in the center of the fountain, between the concrete pillars, there is a "stainless steel" ball with a mirror surface treatment, which will reflect the surroundings of the fountain - there is a lot of greenery nearby, here is the Museum, the Officers' Home (The most beautiful building in the town), etc. From above the sphere, water flows in the shape of a hemisphere, following the shape of the existing concrete pillars. Lights are placed in the lower part of the pillars and above the sphere, which at night will emphasize the effect of the water hemisphere and the mirror ball.
The pillars of the fountain are lined with white "alubond", a material that will be high-gloss and over which water and light will be reflected as shadows. At the same time, this material is easy to maintain and clean, as its purpose is mainly for facades. The stairs, the sides of the fountain, and the surrounding surfaces are white, as they were original. The bottom of the pool is lined with new, turquoise tiles. The concrete walls were mostly retained with certain changes in the part in front of the Museum and wooden stands were placed on their upper surface to serve as benches for sitting. In the part next to the fountain, where the steps are wider, there are cylindrical columns lined with galvanized sheet metal and on the upper side with circular seats in white and green (the color of the city club). In front of the Museum itself, in a triangular space, wooden benches are placed in a circle, between which is the grass surface with children's props (swings, seesaws, etc.). Around that part, white tiles are removed and a granite cube was placed, which was once characteristic of the streets of our city.
However, our mayor had a different idea. The same morning when we were supposed to present our projects at the Museum, he knocked down the fountain and everything around. Why... we never found out and will not. We can only guess. In the last election, he was "knocked down".