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Tokujin Yoshioka creates cloud-like sculpture from thousands of acrylic rods
Tokujin Yoshioka has suspended 17,700 acrylic rods in the lobby of a skyscraper in Downtown Houston, creating a huge sculpture designed to resemble a cloud.
The Japanese designer's Prismatic Cloud sculpture stretches across the roof of the One Allen Center's 45 square-metre lobby.
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Using 3,540 barely-visible cables, the 17,700 colourless rods are hung from the roof and stacked together in a formation that – from a distance – is designed to resemble a cloud.
Each of the rods is prism-shaped, to ensure they catch and reflect light during the day.
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"As public art, I created a sculptural work made of light which would be a symbol of the building," Yoshioka told Dezeen.
"Prismatic Cloud is a sculptural work made of light, transcending concepts of shape by giving a figure to all human senses utilising immaterial elements," he continued.
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The Allen Center, which is made up of three buildings, is currently undergoing a $48.5 million transformation to turn it into a cultural hub.
The works began in June 2016 and included the renovation of the nine-metre-high lobby space at One Allen Center, where Yoshioka's sculpture is located.
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The 452 feet-tall skyscraper is located in Houston's downtown district – an area hit badly by Hurricane Harvey in August 2017.
In the wake of the natural disaster, Houston launched a 20-year plan to overhaul its downtown district, after experts blamed Texas city's urban design for the hurricane's catastrophic effects.
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Based in Tokyo, Yoshioka has become known for creating poetic and experimental works that use light as a main component.
This is the latest in a series of cloud-like works created by the designer, which include an exhibition design made up of more than two million translucent straws at the Saga Prefectural Art Museum in Japan, and a crinkled paper sofa for Moroso.