JOBS WELL DONE
8
November 2004
A Publication of O'Neil Industries, Inc.
The Crown Fountain was designed by the famed Spanish sculptor Jaume
Plensa in collaboration with Krueck & Sexton Architects, Halvorsen
Kaye Structural Engineers and U.S. Equities. Plensa strives to utilize current
technology and create interactive pieces that can be enjoyed by every-
one and the Crown Fountain is no exception.
The Crown Fountain features two, 50-foot high glass block towers at
each end of a 232-foot long, razor-thin reflecting pool.The pool is 1/8th
inch deep making it safe for visitors to wade through the water. The
towers are illuminated by changing video images and lights. One thousand
faces were filmed and appear on the screen for about 13 minutes each.
Each projected face purses their lips and a spout of water spews forth.
The image then disappears, and water cascades down all the sides of the
towers. Lining the side of the pool are two long benches where people
can sit and relax.
Herb Dawson, Project Manager for W. E. O'Neil, comments on one of
the challenges of the project stating that "the Owner wanted us to
escalate the schedule by one month and we accomplished it." Meeting
this schedule was complicated by the fact that the individual bricks had
to be made one at a time by pouring molten glass into molds and then
set in a frame. Although this process was time-consuming, O'Neil was
able to meet the accelerated schedule.
The Crown Fountain is just one of the many impressive attractions featured
at Millennium Park making the park a destination for unprecedented
world-class art, music, architecture, and landscape design. W. E. O'Neil
will continue working with talented architects and artists to create
structures worthy of one of the world's greatest cities, Chicago.
COME FACE TO FACE
WITH CHICAGO'S NEW
CROWN FOUNTAIN
(Top)
: Aerial view of the new Millennium Park
(Top Middle)
:View of
the fountain at night
(Above)
: Chicagoans enjoying the fountain
All photography by Hedrich Blessing
W. E. O'Neil Construction continues to add to Chicago's collection of
preeminent structures with the recent completion of the Crown
Fountain for Chicago's much anticipated Millennium Park.
