When I was living in Germany last year I was constantly coming across fabulous little details like this one I found while walking through downtown Überlingen on the sidewalk in the rain. I heard noises like a water feature as I was passing a bank building and I noticed this cool drain weaving through some granite cobblestone pavers at the entrance. So I followed the water channel that lead to the drain to find the source.

The curving water channel lead to the stairs up to the building entrance where each stone stair had been molded into flow form shapes. This is the shape Atelier Dreiseitl is famous for and after all, Überlingen is the home of the office. The water drops down each stair and swirls around before dropping to the next stair level before finally entering the water channel flowing towards the drain.

Leading to the flow forms in the stairs was another water channel leading away from a fountain that acted as a spring for the system where water would bubble out of two large pieces of stone, highly polished on the top and with river-like patterns engraved into the stone for water flow.

Unfortunately these stairs and the fountain received a very American-style treatment with some ghastly barriers and bars keeping people away along with advertising nearly concealing the fountain. Of course this is especially funny in Germany where there are amphitheater stairs with a huge drop off along the lake edge and open water channels running through sidewalks, just a couple minutes walk from this very spot.

The hideous advertising and bars are an unfortunate addition in that is also makes this installation look unwanted in the space. It’s sad that instead of embracing the water, they choose to hide and ignore it like an embarassment. I don’t know the story behind this spot for sure but I think it is a circulating system that also captures some of the rain from the sidewalk. I checked back several times after my discovery but never actually saw the fountain on.