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All the United States North Carolina Raleigh Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky
AO Edited

Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky

This woodland architectural installation acts as a camera obscura for the heavens.

Raleigh, North Carolina

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Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky   Jeff Myers on Flickr
Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky   Wikipedia
The view inside the Cloud Chamber.   bobistraveling on Flickr
The floor of the cloud chamber before the spring bloom   Zephiera / Atlas Obscura User
One of the benches in the Cloud Chamber surrounded by the projection of the trees and sky   Zephiera / Atlas Obscura User
Outside of the Cloud chamber   Zephiera / Atlas Obscura User
Inside the Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky   hshinn3 / Atlas Obscura User
  Kokopelli / Atlas Obscura User
  Kokopelli / Atlas Obscura User
  Kokopelli / Atlas Obscura User
  keithlmoore / Atlas Obscura User
  keithlmoore / Atlas Obscura User
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  MikeInSanFrancisco / Atlas Obscura User
  jillybeanznc / Atlas Obscura User
Inside on a bright spring day   MikeInSanFrancisco / Atlas Obscura User
Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Sign near the installation.   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
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About

The squat, round hut known as the Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky may look like an enchanted hobbit home, but it is in fact the work of British artist Chris Drury who built the structure as a rustic camera obscura.

Located on the largest museum campus in the United States behind the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Cloud Chamber is a unique work that mixes fairy tale design with medieval technology to create one of the most unique spaces in the world. The low-lying hut is made of large, dry stone blocks in the shape of a rocky igloo with a lush, green turf sitting on top. There is a single wooden door leading into the chamber which becomes light-tight when the door is closed. The only illumination in the 14-foot diameter room comes from a small hole in the roof of the chamber which acts as a camera obscura, a medieval optics trick that ends up projecting a mirror image of the area on the lit side of the camera. Thus the interior of the cloud chamber has trees, clouds, and blue sky projected across the white cement walls.

The Cloud Chamber ultimately allows visitors to virtually walk among the clouds and the treetops using a technology that requires nothing but sunshine. 

Update as of April 2021: Temporarily closed for renovations. 

Update as of May 2022: The location is now open. 

Related Tags

Art Nature Cameras Obscura

Know Before You Go

The chamber is located in the NCMA's Ann and Jim Goodnight Museum Park. After parking in the nearby lot, take the trail down into the field, cross the stream and continue on up into the woods to this small wood and stone dome. If you're lost, just take a look at one of the maps posted (#25 on paper maps or #27 on the park signs]Once inside the chamber, allow a few minutes for your eyes to adjust. A cone of light, let in from a pinhole compression ring at the pinnacle of the dome, projects an image into the space from directly overhead in this cool, damp and otherwise completely pitch-black chamber.

Community Contributors

Added By

mishamcmurtray

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Raven Traveler, shatomica, bradclifford, TravelingThe50States...

  • Raven Traveler
  • shatomica
  • bradclifford
  • TravelingThe50States
  • masqueradeprince
  • vagabondblonde
  • Zephiera
  • EricGrundhauser
  • geringeradam
  • Kokopelli
  • MikeInSanFrancisco
  • hshinn3
  • keithlmoore
  • jillybeanznc
  • blimpcaptain
  • houseofnii

Published

August 14, 2014

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  • http://www.newraleigh.com/articles/archive/cloud-chamber-north-carolina-museum-of-art-ncma/
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Chamber_for_the_Trees_and_Sky
Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky
2110 Blue Ridge Rd
Raleigh, North Carolina, 27607
United States
35.80605, -78.699015
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