Rain Oculus Singapore art structure
Located where Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands' retail mall and the Waterfront Promenade meet, the Rain Oculus provides a double spectacle for Marina Bay Sands visitors. Stand on the upper level, and the rain oculus looks like a bowl containing a vortex of swirling water. Go to the waterfront two levels below, and you'll see a hemispherical skylight, with water showering out of the center and light leaching through the rest. The structure is composed of an acrylic hemisphere 72 feet in diameter, supported by a stainless steel "basket". The steel and acrylic superstructure alone weighs 90 tons, more when water swirls into the hemisphere and out the opening. The Rain Oculus is designed to hold about 200 tons of water; it's intended to catch rainwater, but on dry days, water is pumped through several nozzles located around the hemisphere. Rain Oculus was intended by Kahn to be the canvas for the artwork, not the artwork itself. The hemisphere is designed to sculpt the artistic medium, in this case the swirling vortex of water that Moshe Safdie has jokingly referred to as a "black hole" when seen from above. Says Safdie of the sight, "It might be tempting to see what a black hole feels like and jump in."
Size: 3000px × 4000px
Location: Singapore
Photo credit: © picturelibrary / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: art, oculus, rain, singapore, structure
