Kinetic Rain

By Danielle Pope

ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP/GettyImages
ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP/GettyImages
How this incredible sculpture is soothing travellers

There is nothing more soothing than the gentle sound of rain. Artists at Singapore’s Changi airport have harnessed that idea and turned it into the world’s largest kinetic sculpture, Kinetic Rain.

Measuring 9.8 metres by 4 metres, this fluid sculpture consists of 608 copper plated aluminium droplets. The sculpture can form 16 different shapes ranging from abstract art forms to recognisable patterns, including an aeroplane, a hot air balloon, a kite and even a dragon.

Designers of the Kinetic Rain created three-dimensional models and animated them by hand. After the suite of patterns are formalised, they are fed into a computer program which then controls the motors that manoeuvre the droplets. Each droplet is connected to a motor that is housed in the ceiling of the Departure Hall. The motors contain a high precision rotary encoder, which keeps track of the exact position of the droplet.

Kinetic Rain was commissioned by Changi Airport Group Singapore and the installation was manufactured and installed by MKT, Olching.

Watch this hypnotising display here:

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