In 2013, the Atlanta Braves announced that they would be building a new stadium in the northwest Atlanta Cumberland Mall area. In association with the Cobb-Marrietta Coliseum & Exhibit Authority and the Cumberland Community Improvement District, the Braves organization set about to create SunTrust Park and the adjoining retail/entertainment center known as The Battery Atlanta.
Roman Fountains had the privilege to partner with the stadium’s designer, Populous, on the creation of the water features within the stadium. Populous is a world renowned architecture and design firm that is responsible for some of the world’s iconic arenas, from Yankee Stadium to the London Olympic Stadium. For SunTrust Park, the “batter’s eye” fountain was created in center field. The feature has a natural look with evergreens, boulders, and a rock waterfall. During games the waterfall is inactive so that the white water does not obstruct the batter’s view of the baseball as it leaves the pitcher’s hand. However, located in the upper pool of the waterfall are four water cannons that can be activated in the control booth. A homerun or crucial strike out is the catalyst for a “blast” from the “cannons”. The cannons create a slug of water that reaches a spray height of 75 feet, leaving a fine mist that helps to cool the summer air.
The Monument Garden is located in the concourses at the stadium located behind home plate. It displays tributes to the Braves’ legends through the years. It consists of a wall fountain and a cascading natural rock waterfall. The wall fountain flows behind the retired numbers of former players. The cascading waterfall is 20’ wide and is located in front of the Hank Aaron statue that was brought to Sun Trust Park from its previous home at Turner Field. This fountain was a particular challenge as its structure spans a construction gap between the stadium and surrounding concourse. To solve this, the fountain installation company, Aqua Underground, utilized flexible neoprene conduit and piping connections to allow the lower basin to shift with the stadium while preventing any piping from shearing.
Working from Populous’ design concept, Roman Fountains created the fountain installation drawings which were then implemented by Aqua Underground. The expert technicians at Aqua Underground, in partnership with Roman Fountains, continue to provide support and maintenance of the water features.
Both fountains are illuminated with color changing lights. The lights can be set to a single color or cycle through color changing displays. All of the equipment for the water features at SunTrust Park is located in equipment rooms.