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Spuiplein the Hague
The fountain on the Spuiplein in The Hague 360 degrees (JPEG) 311 kB


This unique fountain was located at the Spuiplein in The Hague (the Netherlands).
The fountain was based on a regular grid of 14 x 14 nozzles. A total of 196 water pumps were individually power controlled by 8-bit microprocessors.
Shortly after completion the original fountain installations were accidently destroyed by nearby building activities and, unfortunately, never rebuild.

P.Struycken designed two programs for the fountain:

  • During day time the water jets could reach a height between 0 cm and 260 cm, changing individualy and controlled by the computerprogram.
  • At night the water jets were fixed at a 30 cm level and illuminated by glassfiber light conductors in the floor that changed the colors of the jets from below. Eight light groups selected their colors from 40 dichroid color filters.

Both the height of the water jets during day time and the colors after sunset changed according to pseudo infinite patterns designed by P.Struycken. The water structure was programmed in such a way that the pattern would not repeat in the next 100 million years.
The fountain's installations were designed and built by euroGenie in close collaboration with the artist.

One could walk, bicycle, or drive thru the fountain, as the pictures show, without getting wet.

All the installations, water equipment, electronics, electrical hardware, the pumps, the water filters, and all the tubing were located underground in six cellars underneath the fountain. They were invisible to the public and connected by tunnels for power cables, water tubes and a computer network (based on Phytec Elektronik components).

The special No-Profile nozzle and illumination system was designed and produced by euroGenie. The surface of the fountain was completely flat so that it could be used for other activities, when switched off.

The fountain was remote controlled by a digital connection over a telephone line. All settings and measurements of the installation were done by modem only.

If you have Google Earth running on you machine, this is a link to the location