The rectilinear fountains at City Creek Center in downtown Salt Lake City lead to the central plaza. The fountains welcome visitors with arching water (108 arching nozzles). These fountains were constructed of 7,080 sq. ft. of granite. The stone is "Mesabi Black' (quarried in Babbitt, Minn.), and "Prairie Brown' (quarried in Milbank, S.D.), with a variety of finishes: polished, Diamond 100 and rub and sanded. CMS Collaborative designed these fountains, and Outside the Lines constructed them.
Photo: Martin van Hemert

The granite was meticulously fabricated with 176 perfectly positioned holes for water jets and light fixtures for WET Design's "Transcend' fountain. The precision stone fabrication included 49 holes for gas-fueled fire nozzles for the "dancing fire and water performances." Modeling software was used in the fabrication of the massive 37-feet dia. granite disc. Kepco+ of Salt Lake City is said to have installed the granite "to be level at every point within the thickness of a single piece of paper." The fountain is capable of 50-foot-high jets of water. Ingrade luminaires (Lumascape) uplight the space and trees.
Photo Top: SWA
Photo Bottom: Martin van Hemert

One water effect for "Transcend' is WET's "bloom nozzles," which create columns of water that open like flowers to better refract sunlight. The computer-controlled fountains took about four years to design and construct. Underground tanks of compressed air help create the water effects.
Photo: WET

Completed in March 2012, City Creek Center, Salt Lake City's newest mixed-use development, is a 23-acre redevelopment employing a bold landscape strategy to anchor 536 residences, 1.7 million square feet of office space and 760,000 square feet of retail space. Bisecting three of Salt Lake City's 660-foot superblocks, the new 195,000-square-foot pedestrian realm features a pedestrian sky bridge with a retractable glass roof that connects two blocks.

The center's inviting walkways, native plantings, open gathering areas and 5,000 below-grade parking spaces are among the amenities bringing more people to downtown.

The expansive project, directly across from the state's most popular tourist attraction"?uTemple Square of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints"?uhas redefined Salt Lake City's downtown experience. Using more than 50 percent of the debris recycled from previous structures, City Creek Center is reportedly the first shopping center to achieve LEED-ND Silver pilot program certification. All four residential towers associated with the development garnered LEED Gold status.

According to a 2011 report prepared by CBRE (a leader in real estate services and investment) for the Salt Lake City Downtown Alliance, City Creek Center, with a price tag estimated between $1.5 and $2 billion, is the largest privately-funded development project in the U.S. The result is 536 new residences, 1.7 million square feet of office space, and 760,000 square feet of retail space, the reestablishment of smaller city blocks (three 10-acre blocks), and open spaces that are more pedestrian-friendly and accessible. It has also brought back thousands of retail jobs to the downtown, and filled apartments and office space. Main Street bisects the City Creek Center project, with a TRAX light-rail line station just in front of Macy's. A sky bridge with a retractable glass roof connects the two main project blocks. Etched in the sky bridge glass are tree leaves, an effect meant to simulate leaves floating on a creek.
Photo: SWA: Tom Fox

The "Flutter' fountain, at the north entry to City Creek, is by Wet Design, and built by Outside the Lines. Ten bell nozzles disperse vertical water jets into delicate jelly fish-like domed water sprays. Both "Transcend' and "Flutter' use jets of water and fire to further enhance the choreography of lights and music.
Photo: Coldspring

The site slopes 37 feet from its northeastern to southwestern corners, which the developers chose to view as an opportunity to create active urban spaces at multiple levels, drawing pedestrians into the project from many locations. CMS Collaborative Inc., of Santa Cruz, Calif., created a replica of Salt Lake City's historic City Creek. The natural looking creek runs through the site, and is replete with 300 native trout, more than 600 trees and hundreds of native plants. The creek divides the lower level, so bridges were added every 60 feet and the width of the pedestrian street was narrowed to about 35 feet to accommodate cross-mall shopping.

Two waterfalls flank the creek, each more than 18 feet high. The falls flows over large, local quarried boulders. Leading down to the mall plaza are three rectangular fountains. At the plaza level are three circular fountains.

The client desired fountains with fire and water elements that could be programmed with music for entertaining City Creek Center patrons. WET Design of Sun Valley, Calif., was brought in to design just such an experience. Known perhaps best known for the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas, WET Design created three circular fountains: "Flutter,' Transcend' and "Engage.' Flutter integrates "dancing fire on sheets of water" that spill out in the shapes of bells; Transcend provides musically choreographed displays, spewing fire and streams of water upward in playful patterns. Engage invites children to interact with its animations.

Fountain consultants CMS Collaborative contributed designs for the series of three rectangular fountains in the mall leading to the central plaza. The fountains complement the large existing water feature at the nearby LDS Conference Center.

Of the 3 circular fountains, "Engage' most directly invites children to interact with its computer-controlled animations. WET CEO Mark Fuller, a Salt Lake City native and graduate of the University of Utah, donated $1.77 million in equipment and field services to build the fountains at City Creek. In appreciation, City Creek Reserve, the developmental arm of the LDS Church, has dedicated the fountains to Mark's family.

To give the stream a natural look there's about 300 tons of cobble mulch. The width of the stream varies from 1 to 28 feet, and from 4 to 18 inches deep. Certain sections of the stream even have native trout"?uas many as 300.
Bridges were added every 60 feet, and the width of the pedestrian way narrowed to 35 feet.
Photo: SWA Group

Flanking the creek are two waterfalls, each about 18 feet high. The native sandstone boulders, weighing up to 14 tons, were quarried about 30 miles outside Salt Lake City. Tom Mallonee, president of CMS Fountain Consultants, told LASN the full-scale concrete structural foundations for the waterfalls were poured out at the quarry, then the boulders strategically placed to see how a 2,500 gpm flow would look cascading over the rocks. The masons then chipped away at the stone to get the desired falls effect. The stones were then numbered and everything shipped to the site for reassembly. SWA Group and CMS Fountain Consultants designed the stream and waterfalls;
Outside the Lines built the stream.
Photo: Tom Fox, SWA

SWA Group, San Francisco, provided conceptual design and design development for all of City Creek Center's outdoor environments. For durability, permanence and ability to reflect the area's natural landscape, granite provided the ideal choice. Landscape architect SWA Group, CMS Collaborative, and WET Design enlisted Coldspring to create the precise granite installations. Throughout the planning the project team and fountain designers worked with Coldspring to select the proper stone, and to ensure proper fabrication and meticulous placement of the hundreds of nozzle holes. Modeling software and computer numerical control (CNC) fabrication were used to render these complex geometries.

Mesabi black and prairie brown granite, in a combination of polished, Diamond???(R)???AE???? 100, rubbed and sanded finishes were selected for Transcend, the central oval fountain; Engage, the interactive fountain; and the three rectangular fountains leading to the Central Plaza. "Mesabi Black' creates a striking backdrop for the water features, and "Prairie Brown' complements the natural color scheme found throughout City Creek Center.

To soften all the hardcaping, 627 trees were preselected for five different nurseries in Oregon and Idaho a year and half before project installation. The dominant site trees are Populus tremuloides (Aspens); Betlua occidentailis (native birch) and Prunus virginiana ("Choke' cherry). The soil depth for the trees varies from 3-5-ft. deep. In paved areas, structural engineered soil was also used to support the paving and protect the tree roots.
Photo: Outside the Lines

Outside the Lines tower-craned in about 1,950 tons of boulders for the stream.
Photo: Outside the Lines

A total of 176 holes were placed in the granite for water jets and light fixtures, and 49 additional holes were added for the gas-fueled fire nozzles used in the Transcend fountain's dancing fire and water performance. The precise stone fabrication eliminated the need for handwork on site.

The platform for the "Transcend' fountain is a single stone disc 37 feet in diameter. CNC technology was used to fabricate the platform, and Kepco+ of Salt Lake City installed the disc to be level at every point within the thickness of a single piece of paper. The precise placement allows the water to cascade evenly and beautifully over the entire perimeter.

"The beauty of technology is that it allows the production of shapes and designs in stones, such as the ones for City Creek Center, that would have been nearly impossible 50 years ago," SWA principal Ross Nadeau said.

The site slopes down 37 feet from its northeastern to southwestern corners, which gave the developers the opportunity to run a 1,450-foot stream down the middle of the site. The stream is a historic reference to Salt Lake's City Creek, a 14.5-mile long mountain stream arising about 8 miles up City Creek Canyon northeast of downtown. Melting snows and natural springs keep the stream flowing year around; it still supplies drinking water for northern parts of the city. The creek was the reason the Mormons stopped here to settle in 1847. In 1909, a culvert under North Temple Street took the stream underground to the Jordan River. Some locals erroneously believe the stream is just diverted water from the real creek, but the stream and the six fountains each have their own recirculating water systems, and the water supply is municipal tap water. The stream flow rate is about 500 gpm. There is 27,000 sq. ft. of concrete and waterproofing for the pond bottom and shoreline.
Photo: Bill Tatham, SWA Group

It's reported this "fully leased" retail environment has generated 2,000 new jobs and contributed to a $209M sales increase (a 36 percent jump) for Salt Lake's downtown economy in 2012. Although the stores at City Creek Center are close on Sundays, the center is accessible every day of the year, 24 hours a day, securing this development as an integral part of the changing downtown infrastructure.

The concentration and proximity of amenities, open space, housing, and street life provide an impetus for people to live in and experience the new downtown, and has generated growth in the district, bringing a population increase of 35 percent to the residential community since 2010. City Creek Center was named "Best Retail Development in the Americas' by International Property Awards, placed in the top three in the World's Best Retail Development category, and earned the Building Stone Institute's Stone Project of the Year in 2012. The project also received the 2013 Coverings, Installation and Design Grand Prize in the "commercial' category, and was a finalist for the 2013 ULI Global Award for Excellence. In 2014, City Creek Center earned a Pinnacle Award from the Marble Institute of America.

City Creek Center has played a critical role in Salt Lake City's sustainable design projects to revitalize the downtown. The six years of planning, design and construction for City Creek Center have proven well
worth the wait.

Project Team
Developers:
- Taubman Centers (retail development)
- City Creek Reserve Inc., development arm of the LDS Church
Landscape Architecture: SWA Group, San Francisco
- Design Control: Ross Nadeau, Justin Winters

- Design Team: Ren????(R)???(C) Bihan, Jim Lee, Aleksandra Dudukovic, Claire Napawan, Ross Nadeau, Yan Mei,
Wan-Chih Yin, Tim Brown, Wright Yang, Sean Henderson, Ashley Langworthy, Justin Winters, Michael Samarripa, Justin Trudeau

Architects:
- Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects, LLP
- Callison Architecture, Inc.
Lighting Design: Laura Yates, Horton Lees Brogden
Water Features (Design): CMS Fountain Consultants and WET Design
Water Features (Design/Construction): Outside the Lines
General Contractor: Jacobsen Construction
Landscape Contractor: Intermountain Plantings
Stone: Supplier/Fabricator: Coldspring • Installer: Kepco+
Waterproofing: American Hydrotech and Hycrete