Water Rain Curtain 

Shopping Mall – Suzhou

Project highlights

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Guinness World Record: The world's tallest water rain curtain (strings)
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Innovative project implementation
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Spectacular indoor installation becomes a visitor attraction

The mission

„Water shall fall from the sky“

This is how Mr Chen, managing director of the Xinhu Mingzhu shopping centre in Suzhou, China, eloquently expressed his wonderful and passionate vision for the entrance area. The idea was a challenging one: An installation that would see water rain down from the dome of the entrance hall from a height of 26.02 metres into a pool on the ground floor with a useable diameter of just 6 metres.

A tricky challenge

The physics of the project presented the OASE team with a difficult yet highly exciting task: The high fall height would accelerate the water rapidly, produce a loud noise when it hit the pool and splash far and wide, which was a no-go given the high number of people frequenting the entrance area. Creating a simple waterfall was not an option for these reasons. The unprecedented curtain height of 26 metres meant that FlashWall technology was not suitable either, because the water droplets would pick up so much speed that they would change shape too much and partially scatter. 
 

The installation

The perfect drop on the perfect thread

Instead of relying on drops in free fall, the team found a solution for translating the ambitious idea into reality using the well-known method of having drops of water run down strings. The trick with Mylar lace technology is to measure the water volume of the individual drops with utmost precision to achieve the best possible effect – especially with a water curtain of this unprecedented height. The team carried out a huge amount of tests to find the optimum drop size – and found the winning formula. 

The fascinating indoor rain shower illusion

The installation was made visually unique by the use of particularly transparent and therefore almost invisible threads on which the individual drops can clearly be seen. The spatial effect was created by arranging three curtains concentrically rather than simply using a single layer of Mylar lace. The result is that shoppers look through six rain curtains and get a convincing impression of a heavy rain shower – water falling from the sky, just as Managing Director Chen wanted.

The successes

A sensational success

The water curtain is now the Xinhu Mingzhu shopping centre's main attraction, bringing visitors and Internet fame alike. It creates a special visual and auditory atmosphere and never ceases to fascinate and amaze onlookers with its illusion of water falling freely to the ground. Sometimes the installation attracts such a large number of visitors that the crowds have to be kept under control.

Guinness World Record: The world's tallest water rain curtain

Interest from visitors is not the only aspect of the project that is unparalleled. Thanks to this spectacular structure, OASE has entered the Guinness Book of Records for the world's tallest water curtain. This would not have been possible without the ambitious and creative idea of rainmaker Mr Chen, whose vision has become reality, and the OASE team's passionate dedication to creating a water feature the likes of which had never been seen before. 

Project fact sheet

Project nameSuzhou water rain curtain
CountryChina
City/region/areaSuzhou
Year of completion2019
Type of waterFresh water
LocationShopping centre
BenefitsDesign, spectacular upgrade to the shopping centre, visitor attraction
Fountain typeWater curtain / Mylar lace
Height of installation26.02 m water curtain
RecordWorld's tallest water curtain, entry in the Guinness Book of Records

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