'Necklace' Of Water For Princess Di
An American landscape architect's design for a "necklace" of water was announced Wednesday as the winner of a competition to create a fountain in memory of Princess Diana.
Kathryn Gustafson's water feature, based on an oval ring of stones, was chosen over a daring plan for a colored dome of water by Bombay-born British artist Anish Kapoor.
The two finalists were selected from almost 60 proposals.
The princess died in a car crash in Paris in 1997. Plans for a $4.7 million memorial fountain were announced two years later, but got bogged down.
The two finalists were selected in February, but the committee overseeing the construction, headed by the princess's friend Rosa Monckton, failed to reach a decision on a winner. The committee of eight was evenly split between designs by Kapoor and Gustafson.
Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell announced earlier this month that she would step in to make the final decision.
"This was the judgment of Solomon," she said. "There had to be just one winner. And now that we have one, we can move on to build a worthy memorial to Diana's life."
Gustafson's water feature will be built beside the Serpentine, the lake in Hyde Park close to Diana's former home at Kensington Palace.
In their bid, Gustafson and her London partner Neil Porter said an oval ring of water would sit like "a necklace across the existing contours of the site." The design was believed to be the more traditional of the final two contenders.
Children will be able to splash and play in the water, which will be surrounded by a rolling lawn, creating a "contemplative place to ride the waves of a diverse world," they said.
"The ability to affect those with whom one comes into contact, while being affected by those around one - these were both attributes associated with Princess Diana," Gustafson said.
The government wants to have the fountain finished by Aug. 31, 2003, the sixth anniversary of Diana's death.
There was an unprecedented and spontaneous outpouring of grief in August 1997 after the news of Diana's death.
Thousands of people flocked to lay flowers at the doors of Kensington Palace, the London home of the Princess who was by then divorced from Prince Charles amid revelations that both had extra-marital affairs.
The design brief for the three million pound fountain called for the structure to reflect the person, the place and the surrounding environment.
The initial flood of entries was rapidly whittled down to a first short list of 10, but the decision process then ground to a virtual halt, prompting Jowell to step in to make the final selection between the last two.
A leading art critic recently called for the whole idea to be shelved, and there was expected to be more criticism because the eventual winner was not British.