Drinking Different

DESIGNERS
WXY Architecture
www.wxystudio.com

New York City

North Brooklyn is awash with change. The hipster stomping ground bears numerous signs of gentrification—from gastropubs and loft apartments to a stretch of waterfront parks—yet people still hesitate to drink from public water fountains. The recently installed prototype of a fountain called NYC 2030, located at Transmitter Park in Greenpoint, is set to change our preconceptions of the area’s water, and how we drink it.

Designed by WXY Architecture, the fountain is a response to Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030 program, which aims to make the city’s amenities more sustainable. “NYC 2030 came out of many goals focusing on green infrastructure, and PlaNYC 2030’s active guidelines,” says Claire Weisz, one of WXY’s four principals. Among those goals: eliminating the “yuck factor” associated with public drinking fountains, and making it easy to refill water bottles.

Looking like a thick, bent drinking straw looming out of the ground, the fountain bears the futuristic appearance that its name suggests. Its trough-like form is a single piece of metal, successfully eliminating the basin, drain, and exposed hardware of older models, which often become clogged or are vandalized. The streamlined design uses less material and allows water to flow along its surface toward the ground, where it eventually seeps into the soil through a waste pipe. The fountain is low-maintenance and built to last, with an underground valve that prevents water from freezing in colder weather.

NYC 2030 is the culmination of an intensive two years of research and prototyping, which were conducted in collaboration with Charles McKinney, the principal urban designer for the NYC parks department, and various other personnel from the city’s parks, health, and public-design departments. “Water does some wild and interesting stuff,” Weisz says. “It really shocked us as designers. Just developing the geometry of the bend and the corner, so the water sticks to the edge and flows into the drain—it was a real feat that required a lot of testing.”

The fountain is slated for installation at additional public spaces in New York, including Astor Place. “We wanted a water fountain where the leftover water could be used by the nearby plants, rather than shunted down a sewer,” McKinney says. “If NYC 2030 is successful, we will encourage its use throughout the city.”