Cloud Arch is a public artwork for George Street, Sydney, that is proposed to be installed in 2017. The sculpture will be a ribbon of twisted white stainless steel, representing the shape of a cloud, standing 50 to 75 metres (160 to 250 feet) tall. It is intended to "frame" the Sydney Town Hall, and be visible from all approach directions as part of the pedestrianisation of the street. A light rail line running up George Street is under construction and would run through the arch. The feet of Cloud Arch will be placed on diagonally opposite corners of one of Sydney's busiest intersections, George and Park Street; the sculpture will stand among the Town Hall, the Queen Victoria Building, and The Galeries Victoria.
The sculpture was announced on 29 July 2014 as part of a $9 million package of public artworks for Sydney. Cloud Arch is designed by Junya Ishigami, and is expected to cost $3.5 million. Announced at the same time were Pavilion by Hany Armanious, a 13-metre-tall (43 ft) milk crate to be placed in Belmore Park, and The Distance of Your Heart by Tracey Emin, to consist of 60 bronze bird sculptures perched on poles and above doorways in the northern end of the central business district. Development applications for the sculptures are expected to be lodged by the end of 2015. If approved, construction will begin on the Armanious and Emin sculptures in October 2016 and on Cloud Arch in 2017.
Immediate reactions the announcement of the sculpture were broadly supportive, with positive responses from professional critics. Popular reaction was dominated by comparisons of Cloud Arch to everyday objects, and whimsical nicknames for the work, such as "space noodle". The four other artists shortlisted for the George Street sculpture were New Zealander Bill Culbert, Song Dong of China, Australian Mikala Dwyer, and Ugo Rondinone of Switzerland.