Restoring a Motor City Icon
The Horace E. Dodge and Son Memorial Fountain in Detroit sat dormant for at least a decade, leaving a visual and cultural void in the heart of the Motor City. Fortunately, an extensive renovation and technology upgrade restored the modernist masterpiece that once again represents the city’s spirit of invention and ingenuity.
By Bryan Had
For five decades, Detroit’s Dodge Fountain stood as an icon representing the city’s adventurous and industrious technical heritage. Detroit Mayor, Mike Duggan said the fountain was once a spectacular landmark, but had faced many challenges over the years.
“One of Detroit’s serious deficiencies over the years has been its lack of commitment to great public spaces,” Duggan told the Detroit Free Press. “Great public spaces can unite a community, bringing in people from all walks of life, and it can shape the identity of a city and it has been hard to watch over the years as the great public spaces of Detroit declined. Palmer Park, Rouge Park, Chandler Park, but no public space declined more than Hart Plaza and the Dodge Fountain.”
Originally designed by Japanese architect, Isamu Noguchi, the fountain first began running in 1976 and quickly became a recognizable Detroit landmark. But, over time, the jets stopped working as the fountain fell into a state of disrepair, becoming an emblem of the city’s broader degradation and decline.
FUTURE FACING
In 2023, recognizing the cultural and aesthetic value of the Dodge Fountain, the Detroit City Council allocated $5.6 million for its restoration. The funding was made possible through the American Rescue Plan Act, a bill enacted in 2021 to provide cities with relief from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
LaJuan Counts, Detroit’s Construction and Demolition Director, expressed the city’s optimism and commitment to the project, “The prospect of giving this iconic space a much-needed facelift and restoring the fountain to its former glory fills us with immense pride.”
The restoration, led by Counts, aimed to restore the fountain’s original brilliance, leveraging its unique architectural design featuring a stainless-steel structure with elaborate LED lighting and spray effects.
Truly one of a kind, the fountain’s design is both distinctive and innovative, featuring a massive stainless-steel structure with two legs that support and supply water to a suspended stainless-steel ring. Below the suspended ring lies a lower basin, encircled by an eight-foot-tall wall, creating an interactive space where visitors can get up close to the water.
It is a massive structure. The overall width of the fountain plaza area is 120 feet in diameter. It was sized so that all the splash and mist will drain back to the fountain even during windy conditions. The support legs of the fountain structure are five feet in diameter and support the stainless steel ‘donut’ at a height of 25 feet above the plaza. The ‘donut’ itself is 26 feet in diameter.
The fountain’s display includes intricate spray effects and LED underwater lighting, both in the lower basin and the upper ring, enhancing its visual appeal. The futuristic stainless-steel ring and its two supporting rings stand 25 feet over the plaza. The ring contains 200 jets and approximately 140 lights.
KEY PLAYERS
Fountains By WaterWorks oversaw and managed much of the project, which included sourcing the replacement pump, piping and pipe fittings, filtration, and water sanitization equipment.
They hired our firm, Fountain People for design services and to provide the majority of the equipment package.
Key enhancements included new programmable LED fixtures, upgraded operational systems for precision control, and additional functionality to support the fountain’s interactive features and events.
design to increase their shine. The process took 8-10 hours per panel.
Due to the quick time frame for the project, it was determined that it would be faster to build scaffolding around the structure, instead of dismantling the structure and doing the renovation work off-site. Because the work was done throughout the winter in Detroit, the scaffolding was totally enclosed and allowed the workers to stay “relatively” warm as they removed & cleaned all the stainless-steel panels, replaced the jets & lights, tested all the plumbing, and ran new conduit and wire.
The project was completed in an amazingly swift five months.
SLEEK SYSTEM
At the heart of the system fountain pumps in an equipment room below the plaza provide the necessary flow and pressure to operate the water effects. Water from the fountain display gravity drains to a large underground reservoir tank. The fountain’s pumps pull water from the reservoir tank for filtration and recirculation back to the display jets.
The main components supplied by Fountain People were: 162 FXPRO LED Light Fixtures with on-board DMX driver and on-board Remote Device Management (RDM). RDM technology allows for bi-directional communication between each light fixture and the system controller over a DMX line.
The display and filter pumps combine for a maximum flow rate of over 10,000 gallons per minute.
We also provided, 200 replacement mist nozzles. Each nozzle was machined brass construction with ¾-inch connection and replaced the original nozzles. And we provided, custom fountain control panels and variable frequency drive controllers.
The control panels include motor starters and breakers for the display and filter pumps, plus disconnect switches, breakers, water-level control relays, lighting power supplies. We further provided the fountain-light show controller, color touchscreen, VPN router, 3kva transformer, thermal air conditioner, and all required terminal blocks, grounding lugs, and labeling. The panels were pre-wired in four NEMA enclosures, and factory built, by our company.
The robust, yet efficient, circulation system includes one 250 HP pump, one 150 HP pump, 18-inch piping and suction strainers, and custom control panels.
The project also included refurbishing the massive 60,000 reservoir tank, which had fallen into severe disrepair as a result of debris from the fountain’s source in the Detroit River.
TIME COORDINATES
The largest challenge was lead time. The city wanted to see water running before the NFL Draft in April, but Fountains By Water Works and Fountain People did not start on the project until October/November.
Because none of this equipment is sitting on shelves, it took careful coordination between FBWW, FP, and our vendors in order to come up with solutions to have all equipment arrive on-site with enough time to be installed.
The original concept utilized motor operated valves in order to re-direct water, while the pumps remained at full output. We’re very proud of the fact that the renovation provides the city with a much more sustainable and affordable system that will keep the fountain operating decades into the future.
The LED lights result in significant savings over incandescent lighting. The variable frequency drives on the pumps allow them to run at reduced levels during off hours, and even during the programmed displays. This results in substantial savings on electrical costs.
RENEWED OPTIMISM
The restoration culminated in a grand reopening on June 13, 2024, celebrated by city officials. The event marked the fountain’s return as a vital public space and landmark in Detroit. The operational hours for the fountain are now set from 11 am to 2 pm and 5 pm to 10 pm daily, with plans to make it a central water feature for events and gatherings in the revitalized plaza.
The rejuvenation of Dodge Fountain is a testament to Detroit’s dedication to preserving its iconic landmarks while adapting the water feature design for contemporary use, ensuring that they continue to serve as focal points of community engagement and urban beauty for future generations.
Bryan Had is regional sales manager/engineer for Fountain People, a commercial fountain manufacturing and design firm located in San Marcos, TX