cloud by beijing's ballistic architecture machine

a scale model bathes in the warmth of a beijing summer.
images © BAM

beijing’s ballistic architecture machine (BAM) installed their ballistic cloud in chongqing, south central china, in september of 2011. built from stainless steel and finished with dupont chromalusion paint which changes color depending on your angle of sight, the piece stands 10 meters high and 15 meters in length. based on a simple waffle grid structure, the piece appears to be simultaneously solid and light and airy depending on the viewers’ angle. 250 miniature fog nozzles mounted inside the structure envelope the piece in a thick cloud which departs to reveal the “ballistic” structure within. when seen at night surrounded by fog the piece has an otherworldly presence, as if visiting from a planet far, far away. the project came to bam in the summer of 2011 with two main stipulations–one, the client wanted someone to build them a “cloud”, and two, it needed to be completely finished by the second week of september. at the time, this was less than three months away. bam accepted the challenge. working on an incredibly accelerated schedule, bam completed the design and contracted out all fabrication and installation. despite the time crunch and endless rain that resulted in road-erasing landslides, when the fog cleared, bam was successful.

sections being loaded onto trucks in beijing for their trip south.

installation begins.

plenty of room inside for the welders to walk around.

when the sun goes down in china the lights come on and the work keeps going.

nighttime in chongqing.

fog testing begins.

people are a good indicator of scale.

lit up against the night sky.

the finished product.

another view.

www.bam-usa.com