Normal Municipal Plaza Fountain

Location: Normal, Illinois

Client: Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects

Year of Completion: 2010

Area: 4.78 acres

Recognition

ULI Urban Open Space Awards Finalist, 2020
US FTA/FHA Transportation Planning Excellence Award, 2012
US EPA National Award from Smart Growth Achievement, 2011
Illinois ASLA President’s Award, Urban Category, 2010
ASLA Illinois Presidential Award, 2010

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.