Town hall square, Hattersheim

basins. Herbert Dreiseitl had the basins cut to the millimetre from granite blocks, after developing and testing the movement of the water in his studio in clay and plaster models on a scale of 1:1. The slightest departure from the ideal form would mean that the water would not run as wished in its figure-of – eight pattern based on John Wilkes’ flow principle, which is intended to be remi­niscent of a human pulse.

From the lowest step, the water falls on to the granite paving of the market­place, runs under two five-metre squares and then reappears in brick basins.

It then becomes a plaything, with a straight brick edge on the market place side and a curved one on the catering side, broken up with blocks of stone.

Here the water plunges under the paving again to re-emerge at the end of the pedestrian area in a planted pool. There it is cleaned and taken through an open ford into a pond on the edge of the park. It then runs underground to a tank, and is pumped back up to the source on the town hall steps. A way from the town hall to the park has become a way of taking people to water.

Towards the pond, the watercourse is planted and more natural in appearance.

The watercourse is an attractive element on the square and a playground for children.

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The stream runs through a purification biotope into the aerated retention pool.

The pond in the park is used for water retention.

Water remains visible and enters into a playful dialogue with the path at a crossing.