Lecture: Mark Dorrian "Clouds of Architecture"



An interesting take on the use of clouds in architecture, Mark Dorrian worked through several conceptions of them including buildings that take on cloud-like properties through transparency, projects like Diller Scofidio's "Blur" which create a cloud, and the use of air-conditioning in desert climates. The discussion turned to questions with larger implications, like what is the distinction between clouds and atmospheres? Dorrian answered that these projects are really clouds within clouds.
This invites the question of how relevant these types of projects are in the future. Is architecture increasingly about creating clouds? Or is the built environment already just a conglomeration of clouds creating specific internal atmospheres? Is a cloud defined by its "transcendental weightlessness" (Dorrian's term) as an object or how it is inhabited?



[Diller Scofidio's Blur from 2002]