Normal Municipal Plaza Fountain

Recognition

• Illinois ASLA President’s Award – Urban Category, 2010
• US EPA Smart Growth Award, 2011

Uptown Normal’s Circle is a living plaza where naturally-cleansed stormwater, public space, and transportation work in unison. The Circle cleanses water collected from surrounding streetscapes through chemical-free filtration bogs and then returns it to the site in the form of a public water feature. Later, this water is recycled into an irrigation system for the adjacent streetscapes. The inner elements are composed of an upper pool which flows into a non-planted, gradually stepped sluice, and the surrounding ring contains plants and gravel. Water percolates up through the gravel and plants, and ultimately ends up in a subterranean reservoir, which also supplies circulation for the non-planted areas. An abandoned storm sewer is used as a cistern for rain catchment. The fountain therefore requires little if any city supplied water.