The Rain Fountain was created in 1996 in connection with an exhibition in the shop windows and in the public spaces of the city. Again I was thinking in terms of climate change. The Rain Fountain claimed kin with other magnificent examples of water architecture: from a mast, seven metres high, water spouted in every direction, across a big open space. The location was a central but yet out-of-the-way demolition site which had been asphalted and was now used as a parking lot. It seemed too much to ask that the owners of the parking lot would let us use it for the Rain Fountain. I suspected that they would not like the idea. But Patrik Quist, a marketing expert did. He helped me persuade the parking company; they became convinced that the Rain Fountain was exactly what they needed in their parking lot. He saw to it that we could use the water from a fire-hydrant, as much water as we wanted. It turned out that too little water was used in the city centre; people were too careful. A higher rate of flow would be good for the water-pipes. The water we use will be recycled anyway; rainwater also end up in the street gullies, I thought.

At last the Rain Fountain was in place. It was on continuously, day and night. I thought that this was just as well; it was better not to surprise anybody with a shower. You knew it was raining when you parked your car here. A couple of days passed. The summer heat stayed on; the high pressure lingered. A fine water vapor drifted in over the near-by square with its many outdoor restaurants, and people thought it was great. They spontaneously cooled down in the parking lot; the birds bathed in the puddles. Everybody seemed to love the Rain Fountain – everybody except the car-owners. Those who had parked in the rain claimed that the cars had got lime spots. It is possible that they were right. The fountain had a decalcification apparatus, but Malmö’s water is very calciferous, and it could be that there was some lime left which stuck to the car paint as the water evaporated in the hot sunlight. I thought that this was the end of the project. Then something extraordinary happened. Patrik made the parking company realize that this was their chance to demonstrate that they also had other facilities – a first-class car wash where all spots disappear, even lime spots. They offered to clean any car that had got spots from the Rain Fountain. The installation was allowed to remain for the duration of the exhibition period – two whole weeks.