Crown Fountain @ Millennium Park

By Rachelle Bowden in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 3, 2004 11:43AM

A Chicagoist reader who goes by the moniker "thin white photographer" sent in this photo he took while walking past the construction of Crown Fountain in Millennium Park today. Crown Fountain, which is named after the $10 million donor of the project, the Crown family, will be 232 feet long and 48 feet wide when completed. Designed by the celebrated Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, the fountain will feature two water towers which display nature photography, vivid imagery of various colors, and predominantly, the actual faces of 1000 Chicagoans, including 150 of the workers who are building the park, on LED screens. Located on Michigan Avenue at Monroe Street, Crown Fountain is the only known structure of its kind in the world. Content for the tower displays is being created by Plensa in conjunction with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, which is located across the street from the fountain. (Chicagoist wonders how we can get our own mug on the towers!) Uniting the towers will be a "skin pool" of water that is only 1/8 inch deep and that the public can walk on. Crown Fountain is scheduled to be completed late next month.