From competition to concept
In late summer 2020, the City of Jyväskylä organised a design competition for a new art installation in Lutakko’s accessible sports and play area. The brief was ambitious: create a work combining both light and sound, suited for an urban park, technically durable, and accessible to all.
WSP’s multidisciplinary team won with their water-themed concept. Initially, the plan consisted of two elements — an interactive landscape work and an exploratory path about the water cycle. During development, the focus sharpened into a single installation: Sadepilvi, the Rain Cloud.
Inspiration from everyday life
The idea came to lighting designer Heini Myllyoja while reviewing her son’s school assignment on the water cycle.
“I stopped to think about water and its millions of years of circulation. It’s something we take for granted, yet it’s one of nature’s most important mechanisms,” she recalls.
The design team wanted the Rain Cloud to be multisensory and playful: a work you can walk through, touch, lie under, or simply observe. Inspired by Jesús-Rafael Soto’s interactive Penetrables installations, the Rain Cloud invites visitors to engage with it physically and emotionally.
Turning vision into reality
By early 2021, sketches were on Tehomet’s desk. Tehomet’s engineers collaborated closely with WSP to resolve technical challenges: bringing electricity safely to the top, integrating a hidden service door, ensuring accessibility for wheelchairs, and most importantly, fastening hundreds of hanging ropes securely and durably.
“Even though the target seemed small and simple, it was full of demanding details. The rope clamps alone required careful engineering,” Myllyoja explains.
Safety and durability guided every decision, from materials to structure.
Play of light and sound
By day, the Rain Cloud is a sculptural landmark. By night, it comes alive: motion sensors trigger changes in lighting, shifting from soft ambient glow to a storm-like intensity as people move beneath it. As the ropes sway, metal sound bars rattle, creating a unique auditory layer that makes every encounter different.
The installation does not simply illuminate the park — it creates an atmosphere.
Built in collaboration
Tehomet manufactured the Rain Cloud’s components and guided the engineering process from start to finish.
“The earlier we are involved, the better the outcome. Collaboration from the outset helps identify both constraints and opportunities,” notes Joonas Innanen, Tehomet’s Product Development and Engineering Manager.
For him, the Rain Cloud represents a one-of-a-kind project: “Fun, unique, and very powerful. It will not be repeated in the same way.”
Project details
- Location: Lutakko Park, Jyväskylä, Finland
- Year: 2021
- Concept & Design: WSP Finland working group (Lighting Designers Heini Myllyoja & Annukka Larsen, Sound Designer Pyry Survo, Landscape Architecture Student Rani Ji, Designer Jokke Katajamäki, Structural Designer Niklas Pitkäkoski)
- Manufacturer: Tehomet Oy
- Photographer: Jari Aalto
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