No prizes for guessing why this Springfield, Missouri-based project is named Cloud House. Designed by artist Matthew Mazzotta, it's aimed at relaxing visitors and highlighting the importance of natural processes like rainfall in allowing us to grow the food we eat.
The Cloud House consists of a small shelter built from recycled wood and tin sourced from an abandoned farm, with a cloud-shaped sculpture atop.
The shelter's gutters direct rainwater into an underground water storage tank. Then, when somebody sits in one of the two available rocking chairs, a pump turns on and draws the collected rainwater up to the "cloud" to then fall onto the tin roof, making a pleasantly relaxing sound that visitors are encouraged to sit and listen to. At the same time, rainwater drips onto edible plants growing in the windowsills.
"With rocking chairs on a barn wood floor, the sound of rain on a tin roof, and rain drops bringing the necessary elements for plants growing in the window sills, the look and feel of Cloud House is the epitome of a rural farm experience from simpler times, and creates a space to reflect on the natural processes of food production," says Mazzotta.
If you'd like to check it out the Cloud House in person, it's currently installed in Springfield's Farmers Park. The artist's work is also on display at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in NYC, in an exhibition called By the People: Designing a Better America.
You can also watch the video below to see the Cloud House in use and hear the artist's explanation of the design.
Source: Matthew Mazzotta
