Königsplatz Kassel

Designed by Kamel Louafi Landscape Architects

Location: Germany, Kassel — Type: Infrastructure, Squares and Plazas, Water features — Built: 2004 — Show on Google Maps

Königsplatz Kassel: Waterspouts

Around 1900 Königsplatz in Kassel was a grand, round square with a diameter of 130 meters, unblemished by any eyesores. It remains round, but WWII bombs and wrecking balls have given it its current appearance. Protests against architectural changes have occurred repeatedly, once even against an element at the centre of the square. During Documenta 9, landscape architect Gustav Lange was allowed to place a wooden „Stairway to Nowhere“ with a platform in the middle of the square. Many Kassel residents did not like the idea of this strange sculpture becoming permanent. The mayor felt obliged to act swiftly in the millennium year, clearing the stairs overnight faster than the court could permit. Not many public squares in Germany have such a tumultuous history. A few years after the mayor‘s antics, Kamel Louafi won the competition for the „Water Design Königsplatz Kassel,“ and since 2005, 36 bronze figures, resembling strange tail fins, have been sending water jets into the square‘s centre. Part of Kamel‘s design involves mythical creatures from the Brothers Grimm, who started their journey to fame in Kassel, and these are now engraved on the surface of the figures.

Kamel‘s innovative idea of decentralizing numerous water jets instead of having a single fountain effectively highlights the square‘s circular shape. This emphasis is even more pronounced as the jets trace the double circle of plane trees that were formerly planted there. Many people undoubtedly think that, finally, there‘s a square with a water feature where water doesn’t just spray or splash from grid-like embedded fountains. Is water beautiful? These water jets certainly are.