Cooling in the heat of the summer, soothing with gentle ambient sound and glowing with internal light at night the Shower Towers are an iconic environmentally sustainable public art installation.

Tall and slender, a double row of Shower Towers stretch from east to west along the primary church-library axis and a single row follows the alignment of the convict drain along the north south axis. Their primary function is to create an oasis of cool in the public open space of Civic Place through environmentally sustainable evaporative cooling. Civic Place will become the desirable place to be cool on a hot summer’s day.

A 12m high shower of water falls within a protective outer skin. As gravity forces water down, the surrounding air within the skin is cooled and forced out at the base of the lantern to spill over the surrounding area.

The Shower Towers are 54 elegant sculptural forms creating a rhythm of water and light throughout the plaza. 12m tall and 1m in diameter they are supported by an internal column within the shower of water. The outer skin is constructed of a self-cleaning translucent Teflon coated membrane. Circular battens maintain the form of the sheath. Placed at varying heights on different lanterns they create another rhythmic layer within the installation. The lantern design allows the sheath to subtly sway in the wind, with the battens determining their individual articulation.

Celebratory and with subtle references to lanterns of Parramatta’s past and other cultures of the world, the environmentally sustainable Shower Towers cool and sooth, illuminate and enliven Civic Place for the people of Parramatta.