Joseph Zhang – Looking Outwards – 07

As I scoured the internet for computational data visualization projects, I happed to find this installation, a physical project that I’ve walked by countless times on my way to various cities across the United States. This project is called eCloud, a data-driven project located in San Jose Airport that changes according to live weather patterns across the world. eCloud is a sculpture inspired by the formation and properties of an actual cloud, hence the clor and positioning in space. The design takes into account the sky weather, temperature, wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity, and visibility. With this information the polycarbonate tiles transition from full transparency to opaqueness, creating an elegant array of floating components. Some of the cities include Prague, Berlin, Los Angeles, and Rio De Janeiro

To accompany the installation, there’s a digital interface that shows all of the data currently used. This project really fascinated me because it takes a form in nature and abstracts it into something so artistic, yet still computational. This project is a good example of a design system—that is alone, each tile means nothing. However, when together, you get a beautiful cluster of data titles.