mono: ukigumo floating clouds

‘ukigumo’ – floating clouds by mono all images courtesy mono

japanese fumiaki nagashima and mami maruoka magashima of mono architectural firm have created ‘ukigumo’ – floating clouds, an installation for the 5th festival of lively architecture in montpellier, france held in june 2010. the event invites 10 architectural firms to create work set in courtyards of private houses and hotels around the city, making use of the urban spaces.

the installation consists of many clustered columns, that produce a space with japanese independent sense, implying a japanese traditional building. floating clouds ‘ukigumo’ is an important device in old japanese paintings. it continually appears in japanese old picture rolls and screen paintings, meaning a border and also a connection between different scenes in one painting.

the art work is constructed with slender fiber-glass pipes as clustered columns standing on, clear balloons with nonwoven fabric and polyethylene mesh net spreading over pipes. by passing through several layers of nonwoven fabric and balloons, daylight changes unevenly and makes the unpredictable gradationof atmosphere between shadow and light. in clustered pillars, every visitor of the courtyard can enjoy to walk around freely and to stay there for a while.

fiber glass columns hold up the balloons

fumiaki nagashima and mami maruoka magashima of mono