Real Clouds Created Indoors

Thanks to the wonders of climate engineering, architect Tetsuo Kondo and German firm Transsolar have managed to fill an indoor space with real clouds. The trick here is getting the air right and letting physics take care of the rest: By pumping cool, dry air in at floor level, the cloud stays afloat; hot, humid air in the middle forms the cloud, and hot, dry air at the top keeps it from dissipating upwards.

And visitors can interact with the cloud, thanks to the structure of the Corderie dell’Arsenale space where the cloud exhibit is situated:

Visitors can experience the cloud from below, within, and above as they climb up 4.3 meter high helical ramp erected in the center of the room. The cloud is based on the physical phenomenon of saturated air, condensation droplets floating in the space and condensation seeds. The atmospheres above and below the cloud have different qualities of light, temperature, and humidity, separating the spaces by a filter effect. The cloud can be touched, and it can be felt as different microclimatic conditions coincide.

The video below shows how visitors experience the setup.

(Cloudscapes via Wired UK via Gizmodo)