Cloudscapes by Tetsuo Kondo Architects at Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.

Tetsuo Kondo Architects created a small bank of clouds in the Sunken Garden of the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. 
The clouds billow softly in a compact, transparent container and can be seen from the entrance hall, exhibition galleries, outdoor plaza, and other parts of the museum.

The stairs can be climbed inside the clouds’ container. When climbing to the top, the museum,
the surrounding buildings, and the sky stretch out above the top of the clouds. The edges of the clouds are sharp yet soft, and always in motion. Their color, density and brightness are constantly changing with the weather and time of day. The temperature and humidity inside the container are controlled to keep the clouds at their designed height. The air inside the container forms three distinct strata: 1) one cool and dry, at the bottom, 2) a warm and humid middle stratum, 3) and a hot and dry stratum at the top. The warm, humid layer is where the clouds form.

“Cloudscapes is, in effect, an experiment in creating a new type of architectural space, one that achieves integration in engagement with its environment.”

The transparent container is constructed from clear 48.6mm diameter pipe. The flexible outer frame makes the whole structure responsive to wind pressure. The constantly changing clouds are both soft structures and part of the natural environment that surrounds
 us. It is not the structure alone, but the invisible differences in humidity, the temperature, the weather, the time of day, and other aspects of the surrounding environment that make this work an artistic whole.

See more projects inspired by clouds on Yellowtrace:

“Inspiration Cloud” Roundup Post.
Berndnaut Smilde Makes Real Clouds [TV].

[Photography by Yasuhiro Takagi, Ken’ichi Suzuki and Tetsuo Kondo Architects. Drawings by Tetsuo Kondo Architects.]