When the Brooklyn Museum reopened in 2004 with a modern pavilion entrance designed by James Polshek, there were no trumpets heralding the new glass and steel façade—but there were fifty jets shooting water straight into the Brooklyn air, creating their own percussive chorus of celebration.

WET collaborated with landscape architect Judith Heintz to develop not only a threshold befitting the museum makeover, but to shape a new public space for the surrounding neighborhood and greater New York.

Residents of all ages and backgrounds become museum lovers, as they gather at the Eastern Parkway entrance to witness the airborne domino effect created by the feature. Water skips high into the air, hovers for a moment—as if gravity has been disabled—then slaps back to earth with rhythmic precision. At night the feature is lit from below, firing liquid flares that can be seen at a distance.

With amphitheater-style seating to one side of the entrance—facing away from the building itself—the fountain temporarily supplants the museum as the main attraction. No annual pass required.