Henry Wollman Bloch Fountain Restoration

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Project Type

Location

Kansas City, MO

Year Completed

2016

The Henry Wollman Bloch Fountain was constructed in 2001 as a gift to Kansas City in the name of the co-founder of H&R Block. The fountain quickly became embraced as a centerpiece of a city known for its wealth of fountains. The fountain’s combination of its classic appearance and dynamic displays serves as a perfect companion for the adjacent historic Union Station. The animated water display is operated by computer-controlled sequencing which choreographs a variety of displays and shows. In summary, the fountain contained 120 water jet nozzles, and 112 air-driven nozzles that blast short streams of water in the air, some of which as high as 80 feet in the air.

While being very dramatic and widely embraced, it also experienced a substantial amount of maintenance and expense during its first ten years of life. Specific fountain mechanical components were failing at a fairly high rate. The city desired a redesign of the systems that would provide the dynamic water effect but do so with more sustainable mechanical systems.

Waters Edge engineers dissected the existing fountain systems and developed alternate plans to reconstruct the systems with more sustainable options. In the end, the committee selected an option with the costs that best fit the available budget. The result is that the fountain will remain a centerpiece for the City of Kansas City for many more decades to come.


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