The Fountain of Wealth

This week my travels take me to Singapore, a sovereign city-state located off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. The island was founded in 1819 and gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1963, separating a second time from Malaysia in September of 1963.

The Island is known for its great casinos, medical tourism and education, but I’m after something specific. Located in the southern part of the island within the Marina Center sector, a reclaimed land zone known as the downtown core houses 5 buildings and a convention center known as Suntec City. Within this multi-use development center turned mall is one special fountain.

The Fountain of Wealth is listed as 2008’s Guinness Book of Records largest fountain. During the day, the fountain is turned off and visitors are encouraged to walk around the fountain’s central fountain and collect coins for good luck. During night hours, the fountain is the center of laser performances and between 8-9 PM special laser dedication messages can be made.

The fountain is the hub of the mall, located in the center. If the entire Suntec City sector were viewed from above, its five buildings and convention center would form a hand. Build in 1995, the fountain is inspired by the Hindu Mandala, a symbol for ‘oneness in spirit and unity’ and the word itself means ‘universe.’ The fountain is made of a 108 ft diameter silicon bronze ring held up by four slanted columns. The fountain stands at over 45 feet and its base is located underground.

The fountain symbolizes the equality and harmony of all races and religions in Singapore.

The World’s Largest Fountain

Although this fountain isn’t built yet Emaar Properties in Dubai plan to build a huge fountain that will be the biggest in the world. Although it hasn’t been built or even named yet pictures can found on the internet showing off the beautiful design.

The fountain will be capable of shooting water over 150 meters into the air, which is the height of a 50 story building! And like other large fountains this one will have a integral light and sound show!

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!

Washington Harbor

Awhile ago I wrote about the fountain at the Washington Harbor. Here is a really cool video of the light show!

The fountain features: Day and Evening water and light shows, 41 custom Crystal ChoreoSwitches®, 3 Central Burst jets that reach up to 60’/ 18m, 42 Crystal LED IQ sequencing lights and Show Controls that can be run from an iPad or iPhone.

 

Sunset Island

I often like to say that fountains are interactive pieces of art, but this fountain is so pretty I had to mention it! It is a mosaic style fountain that is in shape of a big compass. So pretty and well constructed.

This fountain is found in a housing community in Ocean City and is the perfect accent to the beautiful natural water features found around the community. Ocean City is essentially a big island filled with a private community of townhouses and condos, so the nautical themed compass fountain goes perfectly along with the ocean feel.

This fountain is also interactive! Ya’ll know how I feel about that!

Swarovski Face Fountain

What girl doesn’t love Swarovski crystals? It was during my search for some new jewelry that I discovered a really cool, but frankly bizarre looking fountain that creates the entrance for the crystal themed indoor park, Swarovski Kristallwelten (Crystal Worlds).

This huge fountain is built into the hillside of Austria creating a tribal looking face that spurts water from its mouth. The eyes of the face are made from unblinking crystals that light up at night.

The pictures of this fountain are absolutely fascinating as it appears that the fountain is a natural part of the hillside.

Short Hills Mall

The other day a co-worker asked me if I enjoy indoor fountains as much as the outdoor ones that I spend so much time writing about. My answer was that typically I hate indoor fountains. They are usually tacky and uninspiring installations found in depressing malls and hotels. BUT there are always exceptions to this rule!

This indoor fountain found in a mall in New Jersey ironically enough, captured my attention with its smart use of lighting and large spherical water features. It is clean, and its modern design is the complete opposite of so many horrible indoor fountains I have seen.

Got to love refreshing design and attention to detail!

Floating Fountains

My last post about the quirky fountains from The Big Giving got me thinking about other strange fountains I have heard about. Behold the Floating Fountains designed by Isamu Noguchi in Osaka Japan.

These fountains tap into the world of science fiction as they rise above the water in a pseudo-lift off supported by jets of water. The illusion is incredible, especially at night. And now onto the pictures!

 

I love the design of these nine floating fountains.

The Big Giving

I woke up today feeling absolutely exhausted…and kind of sick, so I decided to talk about a bizarre fountain that reflected that. It’s called The Big Giving and it is located in London just south of the Hungerford footbridge.

A strange series of seven fountain sculptures by German artist Klaus Weber depict rock people spewing  water out of….well, every orifice imaginable. Let’s just go straight into pictures:

Although I’ve never seen this fountain in person (unfortunately) if I am ever in London I will be sure to make the trip over to The Big Giving.