City fountain is going up
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on April 22, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
A crew installs stone columns that make up the fountain that will be the centerpiece of Streetscape at the corner of Center and Walnut streets on Tuesday. The fountain was designed by Allison Platt.
Construction on one of three new Center Street roundabout projects should be partially complete in about three weeks, said project supervisor Gary Pipkin.
At the intersection of Center Street and Walnut Street, a 44-piece stone fountain is being carefully pieced together by T.A. Loving Co. construction teams.
Allison Platt, the designer of the fountain, said it is called "Cityscape," and was modeled to emulate the feel and look of a downtown city skyline.
The fountain, made of entirely of granite, has smaller stones attached around the bottom of the fountain and four tall, main pillars.
"The four tallest pillars have wells, and they have jets where the water will come out of the top of them," Ms. Platt said. "They'll be lit from below at night time, and the water will come down the sloped granite on the side and be recycled."
A cast iron drain will circle the fountain, and there will be sloped granite that was custom designed by Ms. Platt to make water flow a certain way down the fountain.
"The water will create a white water type of effect," she said.
Project supervisor David Lewis said as of yesterday, 16 pieces had been placed and construction workers had 28 pieces to go before the structure of the fountain is complete.
"We started setting the pieces in place last week," Lewis said.
Mechanical workings of the fountain are another matter, Pipkin said.
"It'll be awhile yet before we get all the mechanical parts working," he said. "We'll test it in about three weeks to make sure it works, but it won't be cut on permanently for a while longer."
The mechanical pieces Pipkin spoke of are the parts that allow the water to flow up through the fountain and circulate through the fixture.
"The shell will be complete in about three weeks, so long as the weather doesn't hold us back like it has been here lately," Pipkin said.
When it is finished, the fountain will be 18 feet tall.
The other two roundabouts are expected to hold the F-86 jet that is currently undergoing renovation at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, and a work of art that will be swapped out each year.
Once the roundabouts are completed and their respective contents are installed, there will be approximately 50 to 60 feet less parking leading up to each roundabout.