240 Seconds at the Monona Terrace Fountain

240 second long exposure as the clouds passed by the fountain on the roof of the Monona Terrace in Madison, WI USA. In the background the Wisconsin State Capitol dome can be seen.

Monona Terrace was originally designed and proposed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1938, but rejected by the Dane County, Wisconsin development board by one vote. Wright would continue to seek support for the plan and alter its design until his death in 1959. For the next four decades, various proposals for a convention center on the Monona Terrace land would be considered and rejected. Several times, it appeared that supporters of the project would be able to secure the public financing to complete the project, but various forces (such as the start of World War II) inevitably sidelined the plan.

In 1990, Madison mayor Paul Soglin resurrected Wright's proposal. Among the arguments against its construction, opponents argued that it was not a genuine Wright building, that the costs were too steep for the taxpayers to bear and that the construction would adversely affect the environment, specifically destroying the view of Lake Monona from street level on the south side of the Capitol Square. Additionally, the site of the land stands on historic Ho-Chunk Nation burial mounds.

The proposed construction was approved by a public referendum in 1992, and construction began on January 25, 1995. The building was constructed by J.H. Findorff and Son Inc., a southern Wisconsin contractor. Although the exterior design is Wright's, the interior as executed was designed by former Wright apprentice Anthony Puttnam of Taliesin Associated Architects. Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center opened on July 18, 1997, nearly 60 years after the design was first proposed by Wright.