The Atmospheric Arboretum allows humans to experience and understand the complex and reciprocal relationship between trees and atmosphere, inviting climate into the human “sphere of affect.” Using the pine tree’s natural ability to seed cloud formations, and accelerated by speculated technological advances, the Atmospheric Arboretum generates a new climate in Central Park; a forested, aromatic microclimate at the center of a dense urban island. Research conducted by the European Council for Nuclear Research (CENA) suggests that pines possess the capacity to generate clouds by emitting pinene

molecules–the monoterpene molecule that gives pines their distinct smell–suspending water vapor into clouds. It is well understood that trees are a natural generator of microclimates, but the ability to create extreme climatic conditions through plant technology offers immense possibility for new forms of aesthetic experience in the park. This project engages the existing Pinetum at Central Park, a small patch of pine forest south of the 86th street transverse dedicated to Olmsted and Vaux’s original pine-lined streets that were lost over the last century to deciduous trees.