Diana Memorial Fountain Case Study

Editor's Notes

1. Smooth development, rough early life. Loved to death. Rebirth?
2. Route de Roi (King’s Road): Place to be and be seen Water pumped from storage tanks beside the Serpentine
3. P r o j e c t D e s I g n Fountain? Streambed? Sits "Like a necklace" on the contours of the landscape To express Diana's spirit and love of children Cornish 'De Lank' granite: light in color to highlight the sparkling color of the water More expensive but reduces cost of maintenance. Fountain features include a 'Chadar Cascade', a 'Swoosh', 'Stepped Cascade', 'Rock and Roll' and a still basin at the bottom which reflect the various qualities of the Princess' life.
4. Original path plan
5. Pathway system extended through and around memorial.
6. Kathryn Gustafson/ Gustafson-Porter Known for ground-breaking, contemporary designs
7. Cutting edge development context Main Contractor: Geoffrey Osborne Ltd. notably leaves the memorial off of its website projects list Royal Parks: Executive Agency of Department for Culture, Media and Sport Memorial Fountain Committee: ceased meetings after perception that input was not being observed Surface Development & Engineering (SDE): 3D modeling (Exact shape and location of stones) File: known as the "jelly mould” File divided into virtual blocks for stonecutters Barron Gould-Texxus: Textured surfaces, merged with "jelly mould” Mock-ups
8. Accessibility Inclusivity ‘Reaching out—Letting in’ High visitation unplanned for 1,000,000 visitors estimated: true, but: 5,000 an hour on the first day 15 injuries in first 16 days Drainage: Built on a marshy area Lacked "formal project management framework Roles and responsibilities of stakeholders not clear Mark Camley, Royal Parks CEO: "we did not initially anticipate the numbers that would be using it, the way that people would be using it and therefore there was a need to make sure we put some proper control on it."—Mark Camley, Royal Parks CEO
9. 1999: The Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer announce a fountain will we used September 2001: Design Competition: 2 finalists (Anish Kapoor, more avant-garde) out of 58 expressions of interest: June 30 2003: Site work begins September 2003: cornerstone laid Opened: 6th July 2004 Gustafson: "I've never seen a job go as smoothly as this.” Then: Large storm and heavy turf traffic revealed drainage problems Despite a mile of drainage pumps and the installation of a thousand tons of sand and topsoil 22 July 2004: 3 hospitalizations later, fountain closed until patrol staff could be employed August 2004: Reopened. Visitors requested not to walk or run in the water January 10th - May 2005: Project to repair drainage New hard surfaces (porous, resin-bound surface laid over permeable foundation and drainage system) and harder-wearing grass 2005: Proposal of fence in the Hyde Park style
10. E v a l u a t I o n Popularity / Use Polls: Waning impression that Hyde Park is either in "good or excellent" condition 1994: 94% 1995: 90% Facebook Choice of a human-made water feature that strongly connects people and water. 75 questionnaires were returned. Table 2 shows the results of the survey-questionnaire (Figure 2).
11. E v a l u a t I o n Popularity / Use Polls: Waning impression that Hyde Park is either in "good or excellent" condition 1994: 94% 1995: 90% Facebook Survey Choice of a human-made water feature that strongly connects people and water. 75 questionnaires were returned. This table shows the results of the survey-questionnaire.
12. E v a l u a t I o n Imageability / Memorability Diana's late mother: Chosen design has "lack of grandeur” William Weston, Royal Parks CEO: "A contemporary structure in a classical landscape.” Tessa Jowell, Cabinet Minister in charge of project: "I am obviously very sorry that anybody's been hurt there…" “It is absolutely beautiful…once these problems are resolved it will be enjoyed as it was meant to be enjoyed.” Karen Blanchette, ROSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents): "We didn't give 'official clearance'". "The design may have to be rethought." (2004) Project Sustainability "The project to build the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain was poorly managed and the costs have run out of control"—House of Commons, Committee of Public Accounts
13. Imageability / Memorability "Sensuous, beguiling, serene," says Gary Hilderbrand, an associate professor of landscape design at Harvard Design School
14. D E S I G N L E S S O N S Statistics of large populations ensures that something will go wrong / someone will get hurt—. It’s about harm reduction. Perspective is everything: Gustavson appears not to have a connection to London and Londoners "We had suspected that we might need a path running round the fountain, but we didn't put it in for reasons of cost. Now we know." "We didn't anticipate people dropping food and wrappers in the fountain.” "I'm a little surprised about the lack of reverence because it's a rather sober place. But when large numbers of people gather there is a loss of self-consciousness."—KG "It was a mistake when it was opened to think that people should be able to walk or play in it."
15. D E S I G N L E S S O N S Statistics of large populations ensures that something will go wrong / someone will get hurt—. It’s about harm reduction. Perspective is everything: Gustavson appears not to have a connection to London and Londoners "We had suspected that we might need a path running round the fountain, but we didn't put it in for reasons of cost. Now we know." "We didn't anticipate people dropping food and wrappers in the fountain.” "I'm a little surprised about the lack of reverence because it's a rather sober place. But when large numbers of people gather there is a loss of self-consciousness."—KG "It was a mistake when it was opened to think that people should be able to walk or play in it."