New York design studio The Very Many has built a white orbed pavilion in Charlotte, North Carolina with bulbs shaded soft blue and pink inside.
Pillar of Dreams is a 26-foot-high (eight-metre) structure made from two layers of thin aluminium, perforated and layered on top of each other to create a single bulbous form.
The Very Many designed the project as a "cloud-like formation" that hovers in a grassy plaza at the Valerie C Woodard Center in Charlotte.
Pillar of Dreams is made from nine hollow legs that support a mass of differently sized globes that merge together.
The orbs appear to be "filled with air," but instead are created with a continuous structural skin of three-millimetre aluminium that is 36,089 feet (11,000 meters) long.
"They appear to float like balloons," said the studio.
Visitors can access the structure from sidewalks that cut across the property and pass through the design, allowing people to walk up underneath the pale shell.
It is coloured white outside and features a gradient of sky blue and soft peach and pink hues inside.
"From a distance, the structure strikes a soft tone, but the viewer can still register the pulsing glow of the gradient within," said The Very Many.
"The intensity of colour grows as one nears the pavilion and finally envelopes the viewer upon entry."
Various computational patterns are punched across the two thin aluminium kins, which form an intricate design when layered on top of each other.
The skins become thinner and more open with its perforations, "like bubblegum blown just to the point of popping" as the volumes swell up top.
Where the orbs merge, the perforations become more densely packed, lending structural integrity.
"As they come together at seams and make their way to the ground, they find alignment as linear stripes," the studio explained.
Inside, sunlight is filtered in geometric patterns and shadows are cast. The structure offers relief from the strong North Carolina sun in summer months.
Seating areas are incorporated within the legs of the volume, revealing contrasting hues of pink and blue.
Pillar of Dreams measures 23 feet (seven metres) wide and 43 feet (13 metres) deep, and is an original work commissioned by Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, in partnership with the City of Charlotte/Mecklenburg Public Art Commission and Arts and Science Council.
Other projects in nearby include a grey two-storey home and a linear monochrome residence, both by In Situ Studio.
Founded in 2004 by New York architect Marc Fornes, The Very Many is an art and architecture studio specialising in digital fabrication and computational design.
Among its other projects are a similarly perforated aluminium structure in Texas coloured orange and blue and white coral-like installation in Orlando, Florida.
Photography is by NAARO.