Inverted Fountain - Where the Water Falls In
Photo: b r e n t, CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
A stop on UCLA Campus Walk, a free self-guided tour.
Most fountains shoot water into the air. This one does the opposite. Water spills over a ring of red brick, slides inward across a bed of multicolored stones and tumbles into a crater about 12 feet wide and 5 feet deep. It was finished in 1968 in the plaza in front of Franz Hall.
The idea started with a challenge. Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy asked the campus landscape team for something other than water squirting skyward, and the designers, Howard Troller and Jere Hazlett, had a practical reason to agree: wind funnels through this court and would have sprayed everyone walking by. Troller drew on childhood memories of the bubbling hot springs of Yellowstone, and the stones were gathered in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.
Student lore says incoming freshmen touch the water at orientation and then must stay out until they graduate, or they'll need an extra quarter to finish. Seniors are said to splash in after their last final. Watch for a moment as the water seems to vanish into the ground.
Getting here: From Powell, walk east past the end of the library, then head south through the courtyards to the plaza in front of Franz Hall, about four minutes.
Did you know?: The fountain's pumps recirculate about 10,000 gallons of water a minute.
Photo op: Crouch at the brick rim and shoot across the stones toward the central crater; a slow shutter makes the water look silky.
More on Wikipedia: Franklin David Murphy · San Gabriel Mountains
Stops on this tour
- Royce Hall - Two Towers, Not Twins
- Powell Library - Where Fahrenheit 451 Was Typed
- Inverted Fountain - Where the Water Falls In
- Kerckhoff Hall - A Widow's Gothic Gift
- Ackerman Union - The Campus Living Room
- Bruin Bear - Two Tons of Bronze Mascot
- Pauley Pavilion - The House Wooden Filled
- Wilson Plaza - UCLA's Front Porch
- Janss Steps - 87 Steps and a Legend
- Fowler Museum - World Art Behind Brick Arches
- Murphy Sculpture Garden - Masterpieces Under Jacarandas