ORIGINALLY SUGGESTED AS A CENTER PIECE FOR THE LONDON OLYMPICS VILLAGE, the digital Cloud will comprise thin and lightweight mesh towers 120 meters tall and stabilized by a series of metal cables. The towers will be dampened by a similar technology to that used in skyscrapers in Japan to resist earthquakes, so they would not be affected by the wind. Above the towers will be a series of interconnected inflatable plastic bubbles. Apart from displaying images and data, the Cloud would also function as a park and an observation deck. People would be able to reach the tops of the towers via ramps, stairs and elevators.

The designers of the Cloud plan to take the unusual step of funding the installation from millions of small donations from members of the public. One of the architects, Carlo Ratti from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, said the project was about ordinary people gathering resources together to raise the Cloud. The design is flexible enough to allow it to be adjusted to the funds available, so the number and amount of donations will determine the size of the Cloud.

The Cloud design was originally submitted to a competition set up by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and has been shortlisted. The competition aimed to attract entries for a tourist attraction in the Olympic Park that would be a legacy for London's east end. The winner of the competition has not yet been announced.

Regardless of the outcome of the competition, the Cloud's architects and engineers, who include author Umberto Eco, and engineers from Arup, a global engineering and consulting company, have decided to publish details of their concept. The structure is influenced by the work of a German artist famous for large inflatable structures, Tomas Saraceno.