'cloudscape' by transsolar and tetsuo kondo architects at the 12th international architecture biennale in venice, italy
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'cloudscape' by german climate engineering firm transsolar and japanese firm
tetsuo kondo architects explores the poetic nature of clouds with their installation
at the 12th international architecture binnale in venice, italy this year. by controlling
the microclimate of the space in the arsenale building, a layer of artificial clouds
are made to hover above the ground level, remaining in balance above the heads
of the viewers.

to fully experience the immaterial lightness of clouds, a winding system of ramps
is situated in the middle of the room, allowing the viewers to feel and touch the clouds
by physically entering it, walking over it, and back down again. this meandering
pathway aims to show all three layers of distinct climates in the room: on the ground level,
the air is cool and dry, while half way up the ramps among the clouds, the air is warm
and humid. when you finally come up above the cloud layer, the air is hot but moistureless.
by replacing pressure differences and temperature gradients, all instances of the structure
offers a unique atmosphere with different qualities of light.



winding ramp structure in the middle of the space
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visitors walk up the steel ramps into artificially generated clouds
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(left) entrance of ramp
(right) highest peak of the ramp
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entering the 'clouds'
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midway up the ramp, in the clouds
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underneath the ramp. the structure rests on the preexisting columns of the arsenale building
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fog spout at the corner of the room
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image © designboom



image © designboom



diagram of the three different atmospheres

full credits:

transsolar: nadir abdessemed, thomas auer, eric baczuk, volkmar bleicher,
stefan holst, timur khanachet, matthias schuler, anja thierfelder
anotherarchitect: daniel dendra
tetsuo kondo architects: tetsuo kondo, mitsuru maekita
structural engineer: sasaki and partners SAPS: mutsuro sasaki, yoshiyuki hiraiwa