Bremerton Fountains Mimic Nature

Daily Journal of Commerce
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
By, SAM BENNETT
Journal Staff Reporter

Drawing on a familiar Northwest theme, a California design firm, Water Entertainment Technologies Design (WET) of Universal City, will conjure thoughts of migrating salmon for a fountain project at the Bremerton Harborside Kitsap Conference Center.

The project will have two fountains, one in a plaza and one on a stairway leading to the plaza.

"The two water features form a relationship to each other," said Patty Lundeen, project designer with WET. "The stair feature has water jumping up. The concept was to reflect salmon swimming upstream."

The $3 million project is part of the public/private $47 million conference center project, which will also have a 100-room Hampton Hotel, an office/retail structure owned by Kitsap Transit and a parking garage. Opus Construction is the general contractor.

Lundeen said a visit to Bremerton spurred the idea.

"We were inspired by that trip and the local salmon industry to come up with this design," she said. "It will be a one-of-a-kind landmark, and a big draw to spend time on the waterfront."

All WET Design projects, she said, are contextual.

WET Design was responsible for the Seattle Center International Fountain re-design in 1995. Collaborating with landscape firm Nakano-Dennis, WET Design programmed the fountain to shoot water 150 feet, as if erupting from the top of the dome.

Paul Allen commissioned WET Design to develop the fire-and-water feature for the Rose Garden Arena. But the firm is best known for the Fountains of Bellagio in Las Vegas. The Fountains are in a large man-made lake and interpret musical numbers in pulsing and staccato rhythms. The firm also designed the 113-foot 2004 Winter Olympics tower and cauldron.

Like many WET Design projects, the Bremerton fountains will feature programmed music, Lundeen said. The plaza feature will have 12 water tubes choreographed to the music.

The fountains are expected to be complete in July, for the opening of the conference center project.

For further information on Bremerton Harborside please visit Economic Development's Bremerton Harborside pages.