sou fujimoto installs temporary pavilion of fluffy, floating clouds in tokyo

sou fujimoto participates in pavilion tokyo 2021 with ‘cloud pavilion’, a structure of fluffy, floating clouds designed as ‘a place for everyone’. the pavilion is installed at two completely different locations in tokyo: yoyogi park, photographed here by designboom; and at the takanawa gateway station, a recently-built train station designed by kengo kuma. its form draws from the clouds that float over various countries, regions and environments, as if they were a ‘big roof of the world’. fujimoto’s ‘cloud pavilion’ joins a series of temporary structures by eight japanese architects and artists, including terunobu fujimori and kazuyo sejima, designed to coincide with the tokyo olympic games. image © designboom (also header image)

sou fujimoto’s design expresses his admiration for clouds and his belief that they are ‘the ultimate architecture that envelopes all kinds of things for its immense size’. ‘it has an exterior but doesn’t have walls, yet an inner space exists,’ notes the japanese architect. ‘moreover, the three-dimensional inner space is extremely complex and dynamic. clouds cannot be realized with architecture, yet they make us feel like there is something architectural to them.’image © designboom

‘cloud pavilion’ consists of a composition of white balloons that float above the ground on three slender legs, providing shade for passersby. it is designed as a ‘place for everyone’, symbolizing diversity and tolerance. the structure is installed at two completely different locations, yoyogi park and takanawa gateway station, where it will remain on view until september 5, 2021. by placing the exact same design in two different locations, fujimoto not only aims to visualize the differences of each location, but also to express the concept of a cloud enveloping various places at the same time.image © designboom image © designboom

image © designboom

image © designboom

image © designboom

image © designboom

image © designboom

image © designboom

image © designboom

project info:

name: cloud pavilion

architect: sou fujimoto

location: yoyogi park (near panorama grass field) new yoyogi-kamizono-cho, jinnan 2chome, shibuya-ku, tokyo (1st venue); takanawa gateway station (inside the ticket gate) new 2-1-220, konan, minato-ku, tokyo (2nd venue)

tokyo tokyo festival special 13

project: pavilion tokyo 2021

dates: july 1 – september 5, 2021

venues: several venues in tokyo, mainly around national stadium

pavilion creators: terunobu fujimori, kazuyo sejima, sou fujimoto, akihisa hirata, junya ishigami, teppei fujiwara, makoto aida, yayoi kusama

additional creator: daito manabe + rhizomatiks

producer and curator: watari-um, the watari museum of contemporary art

organizers: tokyo metropolitan government, arts council tokyo (tokyo metropolitan foundation for history and culture), and executive committee of pavilion tokyo 2021