Glass Enforcement - Public art for the new Police Station

How often do you get official permission to climb the wall of a police station? Rarely. So when the opportunity presented itself, there was no hesitation.. into the lift and up toward the Oulu sky, grins as wide as the horizon.

Sini Majuri's new public artwork, Transparency, stretches along the outer wall of Oulu's new police headquarters like a path of stones. Any single stone might look fragile or easily overlooked, but together they point the way as collective responsibility. No lone element carries the burden of truth or justice; they share it.

The trip north turned into a textbook example of collaboration. Glass from Riihimäki's Mafka & Alakoski met steel from Metallikaari Oy in Kerava; architectural partners SRV and Senate Properties made sure the whole thing would sit happily on the building's face.

First on the checklist was light: how it bends, refracts, and eventually breathes life into the work. Light is the translator between material and meaning. With SRV's help, a lift carried the team up to the roofline to see how illumination and artwork size to play along the façade.

It was also pretty something to get a peek at Oulu's new prison, still in the making. It felt like a compact, modern little town. Institutions are mirrors of society.

Back at Metallikaari, a new fastening system in acid-resistant steel was already being fettled into existence.. a quiet piece of engineering muscle, built to sit out a Nordic winter and see how it fares through freeze and thaw.

To see glass that is listed by UNESCO among humanity's intangible cultural treasures, to become an active presence in Oulu very moving. Transparency proves that glass can be tender and tough, lyrical and civic at once.

Creation of the artworks starts at the end of January; many technical questions still need tidy answers before then. The final installation is planned for summer 2026. Stay tuned as Transparency takes shape.. step by step, piece by piece, and yes, light by light.