Martin Professional is illuminating the architectural installation, Cloudscapes, at the 12th edition of the prestigious Architecture Biennale of Venice (La Biennale di Venezia). Created by German climate engineering firm Transsolar and Tetsuo Kondo Architects, the indoor cloud is being created in an 800m2 room in the Venetian Arsenal (Arsenale di Venezia) and illuminated using luminaires from Martin Professional’s architectural line.  

Architecture Biennale is being directed by Kazuyo Sejima, 2010 winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize and a member of SANAA, one of the world’s leading offices of contemporary architecture. She also serves as curator of the International Architecture Exhibition. 

This year’s Architecture Exhibition is titled “People Meet in Architecture“ and runs from August 29 – November 21 at the Giardini and at the Arsenale, as well as various other venues in Venice. Biennale attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors, providing a space for innovation in the arts, architecture and more. Cloudscapes is the central installation in one of the most prominent spaces of the Biennale.

The artificial cloud is being produced by the visualization of the nearly 100% humidity in the cloud layer through a series of Martin Professional smoke machines (Jem ZR44 Hi-Mass™ and Magnum 1800™), which create condensation seeds that render the cloud viable. What we detect as a cloud are accumulated condensed water droplets (water vapor turns into water droplets and the cloud becomes visible). A floating cloud inside an enclosed environment – a cloudscape – can be accomplished by adding condensation seeds into a layer of air saturated with water vapor. In order to keep the cloud layer floating it is essential to have a dry and cooler layer with a higher density below and a dry and hot layer with a lower density above.