Reflecting Pool
With Wolff Landscape Architecture
The zero-depth fountain preserves Eero Saarinen’s design intent of a reflective pool as foreground to the Law School building. When the fountain is drained for winter, the underlying black granite paver system surfaces to provide year-round plaza use.
The fountain features an Antoine Pevsner sculpture titled “Construction in Space in the Third and Fourth Dimension.”
Design analysis revealed an underlying proportioning system based on the Golden Section in Saarinen’s original design.
The simplicity of the fountain’s appearance belies the precision of its design and execution. A smooth reflection surface depends on a precise balance of water supply, furnished through open joints between granite pavers, and drainage over the perimeter weir edge, and on the flatness of the 13,000 square foot paver system installed on pedestals.