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Cloud Chamber

Architectural Model
2009 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Using the landscape of the Museum as a test site, the V&A invited nineteen architects to submit proposals for structures that examine notions of refuge and retreat. Responding to specific locations in the Museum, the architects explored themes such as study, work, play, performance and contemplation. Seven of the proposals were then selected for construction at full-scale.

These projects promoted an attitude to architecture where to 'dwell' meant something more than simply to find shelter. Each building invited the participation of the viewer. These immersive environments reawakened people's ability to inhabit architectural space on both a physical and an emotional level.

Resembling an abstract wooden cloud or fallen star, this structure houses projectors and screens programmed with time-lapse imagery of cloud formations. Contrasting with the solid, emphatic exterior, every surface of the interior is covered with these film projections, thus offering an experience of weightlessness and intangibility. The architects propose that after the exhibition the structure would be hollowed out and become a children's storytelling shelter.

Object details

Category
Object type
TitleCloud Chamber (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Alder wood.
Brief description
Model for 1:1 Architects Build Small Spaces exhibition, 'Cloud Chamber' by Tham & Videgard, Stockholm, 2009.
Physical description
An abstract three-dimensional shape, with five points, made out of alder wood and resting on a thin rectangular base made of the same material.
Dimensions
  • Height: 260mm
  • Width: 300mm
  • Depth: 250mm
Style
Credit line
Given by Tham and Videgård Arkitekter
Object history
For Architects Build Small Spaces Exhibition, 2009
Summary
Using the landscape of the Museum as a test site, the V&A invited nineteen architects to submit proposals for structures that examine notions of refuge and retreat. Responding to specific locations in the Museum, the architects explored themes such as study, work, play, performance and contemplation. Seven of the proposals were then selected for construction at full-scale.

These projects promoted an attitude to architecture where to 'dwell' meant something more than simply to find shelter. Each building invited the participation of the viewer. These immersive environments reawakened people's ability to inhabit architectural space on both a physical and an emotional level.

Resembling an abstract wooden cloud or fallen star, this structure houses projectors and screens programmed with time-lapse imagery of cloud formations. Contrasting with the solid, emphatic exterior, every surface of the interior is covered with these film projections, thus offering an experience of weightlessness and intangibility. The architects propose that after the exhibition the structure would be hollowed out and become a children's storytelling shelter.
Bibliographic reference
Abraham Thomas, 1:1 Architects Build Small Spaces (London: V&A publications, 2010)
Collection
Accession number
E.1442-2010

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Record createdFebruary 1, 2011
Record URL
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