<p>@TXArchitect - I was evidently right behind you. Late 70s. No fountain runs for me until I brought my son as a kiddie to one of the Bug Bowls.</p>
<p>@dixiedelight, thank you for the link - that is beautiful, and I may never leave the S&E Quad once it’s done. :)</p>
<p>Mom, I wish I could post pics of UA on other sites, but the folks who run this website are really strict about that! I dunno why. Bizarre to me.</p>
<p>Can you pm the link.</p>
<p>Me too! Please. Me too.</p>
<p>Ah, so the Rotunda is the area under the dome? not the area in the middle of the pentagon? ok.</p>
<p>I PMed both of you Mom and Tx. Let me know if it didn’t go through.</p>
<p>Oh, me too, please? Thank you!</p>
<p>What is the expected completion date for this fountain and the SEC area? </p>
<p>I am the lucky soul that plans the band trip for our high school and I am making UA our new stop on the trip to Atlanta that will be April 2015. Can not wait for all of this building to be done to be able to blow the socks off of many that will be on that trip. Not that UA did not already blow our socks off for those of us that have ventured there 
It is just that I will have a large contingent of students and parent chaperones that are “into” this certain school in Texas that recently joined the SEC and have never visited UA. I want them to see what a REAL beautiful college campus looks like. ;)</p>
<p>Atlanta, if you could message me too that would be great! :)</p>
<p>
I grew up in and live in a small Alabama city that for several generations has never given much heed to aesthetics. As a result, our city is known as a “blue collar” city full of poorly educated, strictly working class people. Many people who work here and would be good leaders for our city choose to live down the road in another city.</p>
<p>Our main architectural model is a metal building. Even our location, on a major river, is ignored with only a small park alongside. Most riverfront is filled with warehouse facilities, big manufacturers and a sewage treatment plant.</p>
<p>Now, the city fathers have decided we need some aesthetic elements. Guess what? It’s a LOT more expensive to add these years later.</p>
<p>Let’s hear it for building beauty now!</p>
<p>When I think of a fountain that costs $1.8 million, I imagine some ostentatious 40-foot fountain with water spraying out of statues of cherubs and satyrs.</p>
<p>How about something simple like a stone gazebo? Or an small stone amphitheatre?</p>
<p>Frederick Law Olmsted, the “father” of Landscape Architecture in the United States left his best contributions when he was instrumental in the reservation of the land and the design of the space within, of New York City’s CENTRAL PARK, and JACKSON PARK in Chicago.</p>
<p>Developers fought him.</p>
<p>But, imagine NYC without Central Park. </p>
<p>What a missed opportunity that would have been.</p>
<p>^^I don’t think what you are describing fits within the Master Plan guidelines OR the architectural feel of the university. </p>
<p>Given how elegant the new buildings have been up til now, I would suspect restrained elegance to be a major design objective.</p>
<p>I can’t think of anything less restrained in elegance than a ginormous fountain. </p>
<p>But I should hold back until we get to see what design they have in mind.</p>
<p>*When I think of a fountain that costs $1.8 million, I imagine some ostentatious 40-foot fountain with water spraying out of statues of cherubs and satyrs.</p>
<p>How about something simple like a stone gazebo? Or an small stone amphitheatre?*</p>
<p>lol</p>
<p>Well, it seems like the 1.8M isn’t just for the fountain. This is the CW reporting, so some info may be a bit wrong. The 1.8M may be for finishing the SEC Quad landscaping, walkways, seating, lighting, trees, the fountain, signage, etc. </p>
<p>I don’t know how many acres the SEC Quad is, but if Bama put something “smallish” there, it would look silly. The fountain has to have the visual weight/size not to get lost or be overwhelmed.</p>
<p>I don’t envision cherubs or satyrs…</p>
<p>maybe a huge ELEPHANT with some tigers, longhorns and such trampled underfoot…THAT would be tasteful.</p>
<p>TXA, don’t forget the 12th man as well under the elephant</p>
<p>According to what the BOT approved, the fountain is 1.175 million, the architect contract should not exceed 782,500 and there will be lighting upgrades to the quad at a cost of about 262,000. </p>
<p>The total project is not to exceed 1.875 million with the most substantial cost being the fountain. UA’s construction projects reports list it still being within budget with an expected date of completion being July 31. The area is presently enclosed with a fence and some work has already been done.</p>
<p>I like the way you think, TXA! :)</p>