British sculptor Antony Gormley’s “Quantum Cloud” stands on a cast iron platform next to the O2 Arena in London’s River Thames. Completed in 1999, it was built from a collection of steel tetrahedral units that together form a “cloud” with a human figure at its heart. The idea behind the creation is to convey how the presence of a person can be even greater than their actual appearance.
The towering sculpture, which at 98 feet is Gormley’s tallest, shows a human figure surrounded by—and connected to—a seemingly chaotic cloud that appears to vibrate with energy. To help with the design and structure of the sculpture, Gormley turned to the Elliott Wood Partnership, a London-based structural and civil engineering practice, and the LUSAS consultancy, specialists in engineering analysis and design software. Together, they came up with all the technical wizardry that went into the creation of the Quantum Cloud.
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