Lovejoy fountain

Our final trip of the year takes us to the northern far west, where the Oregon Trail ends – right to heart of Downtown Portland. Oregon is home to a very unique and now historic fountain that was completed in 1966 by American Landscape artist Lawrence Halprin. He was a well rounded man and his style of architecture was modern. He also taught and designed, earning a Bachelors from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.

Now let’s learn a bit more about the state of Oregon. Before becoming a state, Oregon was inhabited by many indigenous tribes and settlers who created their own government in 1843. This land became known as the Oregon Territory and which eventually became the state of Oregon on February 14th 1859.

The City of Portland
Portland is Oregon’s largest city, and is nestled near the Willamette and Columbia rivers. The city is known for its public transportation systems and great land planning, the latter of which has earned Portland the reputation as one of the world’s most environmentally friendly cities. Locals enjoy Portland’s many microbreweries and rose gardens, especially because Portland is described as very outdoor friendly city with many outdoor activities. Portland was incorporated in 1851 and is located near the end of the Oregon Trail.

The Lovejoy Name
The Lovejoy fountain was the first in a series of fountains created for the South Auditorium District – a renewal district project with the aim to enrich the city. The fountain sits within the Lovejoy Plaza, a one-acre plaza designed by Halprin + Associates and Satoru Nishita, partner-in-charge. The plaza sits only 300 yards away from Pettygrove Park. The Lovejoy fountain is the centerpiece of the Lovejoy plaza which is connected to other parks including the famous Keller Fountain Park.

The fountain itself is named after Asa Lovejoy, one of the first landowners of the Portland Town site. Halprin the landscape architect formed the Halprin Landscape Conservancy in 2001 to enhance and protect the Lovejoy Plaza, the Ira Keller fountain and Pettyprove Park.

The fountain itself mimics a waterfall and creates the effect of rushing streams of water that complement the placid pool of water nearby. The entire space was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in March 2013.

Magic Fountain of Montjuic

The Holidays are here and what better way to enjoy such a great time than to travel? This week our journey take us to Barcelona, Spain! Home of one of the world’s best football teams, FC Barcelona. Barcelona is also known as being a collection of great architecture and art.

From the City’s iconic Camp Nou stadium, our destination takes us South East to one of Barcelona’s most popular locations, the Plaça d’Espanya – another monument made for the 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition. Following the Avenida Maria Christina to the end we encounter the Magic Fountain of Montjuic.

The Fountain is sits on the porch of the national palace but also near a very important Italian styled building erected back in 1929, known as the National Art Museum of Catalonia. While the building has been standing for 84 years, it was only until 1990 that it was made into a national museum.

However, our focus today is not on historic buildings or intense soccer rivalry known as ‘el clasico,’ but on the very special Magic Fountain of Montjuic. The fountain was built for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition and was completed just a day before the exposition began.

Carles Buigas, the fountain’s engineer and designer faced some opposition when he proposed to build a fountain that would rely on mechanical jets to shoot streams of water into the air. Many argued that the project would not be completed in a year’s time for the Barcelona International Exposition.

Over the years the fountain has seen many changes and renovations. During the Spanish Civil war, the fountain was badly damaged and was not operational until 1955. In the 80s the fountain added music and for the 1992 Summer Olympics, the fountain was completely restored.

The fountain pumps 2,600 litters of water per second and reticulates water using 3 concentric pools. The fountains jets are illuminated to give a great fountain lighting experience. The fountain design has stayed virtually unchanged despite many renovations during the years. Many say this was one of the first fountains to synchronize music with lights and water, and remains to this day one of Barcelona’s most popular attractions.

Fountain Schedule

Another Fountain Video

I was scouring Youtube again and found this really cool video by SAI Fountains. I actually had showcased some of these fountains and had no idea they were made by the same company!

Halogen vs. LED Fountain Lights

I thought I would take a quick break in discussing various fountains and share a little knowledge I learned while helping my mother build her own fountain a couple years ago! One of the bigger questions we had surrounded lighting and the different bulbs you can choose from. The two most popular are Halogen and LED.

Halogen lights are the traditional lights you see on a lot of older fountains. Halogen lights are nice because of their price point as well as their performance on a dimmer. Outside of those two points halogen lights don’t have many benefits especially when compared to LED lighting.

LED lights may be more expensive than your traditional halogen but the energy savings are about 75% of the halogen bulb. LED lighting saves all the energy because they use much less energy converted to heat like halogen bulbs. LED lights also last way longer than halogen light bulbs!