at the start of the twentieth century, notions of healthy living and cleanliness emerged becoming a primary focus in modern architectural developments and on our urban landscape. architecture started to connect more with the outdoors, inviting sunlight, foliage, fresh air and large spaces which were free of any external congestion typically experienced with city life.
a while later, architectural critic reyner banham posed the question ‘why have buildings at all?’ he talked about the introduction of sophisticated technologies and how they will allow us to survive without the traditional forms of shelter which we are familiar with. our world could become entirely controlled by ‘bubbles’, with our needs met through various systems and devices.
an te liu’s installation at this year’s venice architecture biennale looks to these ideas of cleanliness and presents us with a ‘cloud’ that is made up of domestic air purification appliances. a cluster of white boxes hangs down from the ceiling purifying, washing, filtering and sterilizing our airspace, extracting bacteria, allergens, germs, spores, dust and any other unwanted particles floating around in our atmosphere. perhaps liu’s ‘cloud’ can be seen as a preview of what to anticipate in our world’s future.
image © designboom
image © designboom
image © designboom
the ‘cloud’ in its entirety image © designboom
a view of the cloud from below image © designboom
image © designboom
image © designboom
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