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Light Cloud

Construction of the “Light Cloud” is almost complete at Gallaudet University. The Cloud is a sculptural form with a specific purpose. It is being installed at the Ballard North Dormitory, which will serve as a residence for high school students from the Model Secondary School for the Deaf. Ballard North was built in the early 1960s. It has two wings extending from a central four-story atrium. The school administration plans to house boys on the bottom two floors and girls on the top.  Normally the atrium is a unifying social gathering space for college aged students, but it is a safety and discipline liability for high-schoolers. Gallaudet asked Studio Twenty Seven to provide a solution that would provide visual separation between the genders, but not compromise the light and airiness of the atrium space. The Light Cloud comprises a randomized grid of illuminated white boxes mounted to an armature of gluelam beams. Each white box is unique; some are illuminated with LEDs that give them a glowing, floating appearance, some have translucent, frosted lenses, and others are completely hollow. Collectively they create a good degree of separation while allowing air and daylight to pass through, and provide their own sources of illumination.