“Cloud 9”
(A feeling of extreme happiness or euphoria)
Cloud 9 is sculptural lighting and water installation in Highpoint Shopping Centre, Melbourne, Australia.
The installation is a visually stunning, refined and poetic piece. An expanse of anodised rods form an undulating cloud, surrounding a cascading water feature. The observer experiences a dappled light filtered through the moire of suspended rods like a raincloud after a storm. Perhaps the installation’s best measure of success are the intrigued shoppers, phones in hand, getting photos for their socials.
The installation covers 158 square meters of ceiling space. A modular cassette grid system provides suspension points for the rods. The rods feature an integrated clip to affix the cassette, which also allows access to the ceiling void behind if required.
During the design phases, Australia experienced it’s largest earthquake in 50 years. With seismic concerns at the front of everyone’s minds, the suspension system not only need to be easy to install but also more than sufficiently robust.
Various lighting sources were trailed ,in the end, the simplest solution was judged the most effective and we settled on and an array of DALI controlled 90+ CRI high bay lights with custom diffusers. These create a dappled effect, filtered through the anodised rods whilst still achieving statutory lighting levels in line with the centre’s standards.
A lot of Cloud 9’s success can be attributed to what is not seen; the unsightly but necessary engineering building services.
As with all projects, budgetary pressures are an important guiding factor. The author’s extensive experience and expertise with materials and fabrication delivered a project that was on budget and on time.

A few interesting figures:
> 26,000 individual tubes
> 6.5 tonnes of aluminium
> 158 sqm of ceiling coverage
> 2 separate teams of 4 workers each working around the clock.
> Completed 2 weeks ahead of schedule and under anticipated budget.
> Each drop is a day in the life of a 71 year old person.