Monthly Archives: April 2011

Annotated Bibliography

Posted on 04/28/2011 by Nancy Cheng
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Hauer, Erwin. Erwin Hauer – Continua: Architectural Screens and Walls. New York: Princeton Architectural, 2007. Print.

The author, a prominent sculptor from the 50’s catalogues and describes his work in “Continuous surface” studies from biomorphic forms into modular structures. The reading provides insight into the process Hauer’s screens including where he gained inspiration for much of his sculptures. There are an abundant amount of images of screens and walls from the 1950-60 captured in carefully composed images. Provided at the beginning of each project is a short introduction into the design process that provides descriptive explanations of intents and discoveries. Through series of screens that play with luminosity, surfaces, and symmetry. The book provides a good in-depth visual documentation of work that seems to build upon one another.

Iwamoto, Lisa. Digital Fabrications: Architectural and Material Techniques. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2009. Print.

The author, currently an assistant professor at the University of California Berkeley received her Maser of Architecture degree with Distinction from Harvard University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in structural Engineering from the University of Colorado. She brings her expertise and knowledge of perceptual performance of material and digital fabrication to display the different types of techniques. The book is organized into the major categories’: sectioning, Tessellating folding, contouring, and forming. In each section she includes numerous examples of artists and designer that have implemented each of these fabrication techniques into small scale installations. The pages provide useful images and text that help explain the ideas and techniques used to accomplish the presented installations.

Leski, Kyna. The Making of Design Principles. Providence, RI: K. Leski, 2007. Print.

The author, a principal at 3SIXO Architecture and Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design provides a glimpse into the process of design, put into words and images through a series of projects. The publication chronicles three projects that were given three problems each that designers represented in various small scale studies. The projects offer a fresh view of traditional design process demonstrated as problems to solve such as “form and order” and “whole to the part to whole”.

Lilley, Brian, and Philip Beesley. Expanding Bodies: Art, Cities, Environment ; Proceedings of the Acadia 2007 Conference, Halifax, Nova Scotia, October 1-7, 2007. S.l.: Riverside Architectural Press and Tuns Press,2007. Print.

The publication, an organization formed in the 1980’s to create a line of communication and critical thinking that deal with the use of computers in architectural design and planning. The Book contains an array of conversations and studies involving the use of computers in design including parametric design a process that I am trying to understand through my design process and installation. One study in particular “The Smithsonian Courtyard Enclosure” provides a case study in the digital design process. The articles within the publication are intended for an audience interested in more than the end product including topics outlining design problems, solutions, intent, and logic encompassing digital design. In the case study involving the Courtyard enclosure the author provides a clear understanding of sketching with algorithms and its requirement to have a basic understanding of the design intent in order to write the correct parameters for the computer program to use in creating form.

Liu, Yudong. Demonstrating Digital Architecture. Basel: Birkhäuser, 2005. Print.

The publication, displays fifty of the best project designers from all over the world intended for an audience interested in the new age designs coming from the digital world of 3d modeling and its implementation into the built environment. Included are prominent designer such as Tadao Ando and Zaha Hadid. The book provides award winning examples of how 3d modeling was used in design along with detailed explanations of to describe the work. Also included are many examples of smaller scale projects that incorporate computer based modeling and fabrication. Similar to the Iwamoto’s “Digital Fabrication” the publication goes more into less known artist and becomes richer in detail explaining such things as programs used and reasons for materials used etc.

Annotated Bibliography

Posted on 04/28/2011 by Nancy Cheng
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Matsys Design

http://matsysdesign.com/ 23 Nov. 2010

28 Apr. 2011

Matsys is a design studio started in 2004 by Andrew Kudless.  He explores the relationship between biology, the built world and how to fabricate these using computation methods.  I was immediately drawn to the Diploid lamp series which explores complex patterns that can be derived from forms found from nature – in this case honeycombs, scales and barnacles.  It is very relevant to my studies since I am interested in the use of a simple repeating pattern to create a form that is so complex.  Also I find it very interesting that none of the diploid lamps fabricated using glue at all!

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James Carpenter Environmental Refractions by Sandro Marpillero

Princeton Architectural Press: NY, 2006

James Carpenter is an architect and sculptor, graduating from Rhode Island School of Design in 1972.  He started with the development of new glass materials and worked with their properties to transform light and space.  The work that I am particularly drawn to is his structural glass prisms which were installed in the Christian Theological Seminary’s Sweeney Chapel.  The result of the bounced light and color onto the wall creates a very spiritual effect which I want to try to explore in my design.

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Tazana Co., Ltd

http://www.tazana.com 2010

28 Apr. 2011

Tazana is a company created by a Thai designer and materialist specialist company who believe that design is free for all to interpret making there no wrong or right design.  “Tazana” in Thai means “attitude” and to them, it means that anyone can see something and recognize their own meaning from it.  Most of their forms are derived from Thai culture and the craftsmanship, which i find these qualities very interesting.  Also, I like the idea that most of their lamps start in a very flat form, but when the user lifts them, they reveal their true shape – it may be too early to think of packaging ideas, but this can also translate into a kinetic quality with the user.

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Miho Konishi

http://aainter3-net.fromform.net/miho/

28 Apr 2011

Miho Konishi is a student exploring Light Form and her blog documents her works and findings.  She works a lot with paper folding and how those forms can start to inform space.  I draw inspiration from her works which many seem very similar to mine.

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UnFolded: Paper in Design, Art, Architecture and Industry

Petra Schmidt and Nicola Stattmann

Birkhauser: Basel

This book is a collection of different artists’ work on the various designs using paper.  The work ranges from architectural installations using paper waste material to simple laser cut rings out of card stock.  The section I am interested in is Origami in Production and Computational Origami.  It is fascinating to me underneath it all, origami is a very mathematical and logical art form.

First Prototypes: explorations for a flatpack luminaire

Posted on 04/28/2011 by Nancy Cheng
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LightNShadow_Lamps 11

Through these explorations I was able to play with the kinetic properties that a flatpack object might have.  I would like my final light to exhibit a quality of motion.  I am not sure if that will be achieved with it actually moving or perhaps that it just looks like it is in motion.  (I feel the Bloom Light posted on my Diigo page exhibits a quality of motion even though it doesn’t move.)

Simply,  flatpack objects are often quite FLAT, and I hope to create a luminaire that is not.









A “subtractive barrier”

Posted on 04/28/2011 by Nancy Cheng
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Location
From where shall the project begin and to where shall it end?  The original project brief focused on the unresolved quality of space division between studio and kitchen.  The ambiguity of this barrier, while real, as a physical desk marks the line, calls attention to the undesigned nature of this last bay and seems to be a forgotten space.  This is even more noticeable as the other studio bays are clearly demarcated by 4′ white half walls.  The placement of a messy 30″ desktop in the crisp white datum line in an unintended misfortune.   The goal of this project is not to resolve this issue of a dropped datum, but to create a resolution of this line where it terminates on the south wall.

Pattern/Surface

As there is a link which needs to be addressed between what is displayed and how it is displayed (Newhouse, 9), the location of the piece is important as to focus the qualities desired for pattern and surface.  Drawing from the existing geometry, I have the intersection of several rectilinear planes: the half-height partition wall, the 2′ concrete column present in the exterior wall, and the 4×3 grid of  the two black metal window frames.  As Kengo Kuma discusses the reality of architectural decoration, “pattern…explains and strengthens the structure of the space” (Abruzzo, 42).  From these geometries, I can derive a resolving pattern.

In parti, the piece will continue the datum of the half wall, but reversed, flowing towards the ceiling instead of the floor.  I imagine it flowing upwards to keep the visual connection at standing height above the 4′ wall, while making it obvious that it is beginning and tied to the datum line.  From there, the design of the pattern must create a flow betwene this datum and the surface of the window. In searching for the correct pattern of the installation’s pieces, I am consulting not only Kengo Kuma’s prescription that decoration enhance structure, but also ideas from many camps, including inspiration from the work of Theo van Doesburg.  In his patterns, he composes colors and forms which create a sense of movement while viewed and existing statically (Coles, 88).

Light Qualities/Phenomena

This installation looks to synthesize the properties of designing an installation for a static existing interior condition with the modulating exterior condition of light and weather changes.  As Jacci Den Hartog is able to accomplish evoking “the power and beauty of nature rather than re-creating it with exactitute” (Lombino, 34), I hope that my light sculpture will create references to the natural world without literally representing it, and instead creating new form.

As in Dan Flavin’s untitled (to the “innovator” of Wheeling Peachblow) (Bell, 164), the object of the installation will be to utilize existing architectural conditions to create new spatial conditions through the medium of light.  Flavin’s work accomplished the erasure of the wall’s corner through direct focus of florescent light at two angles.  As it currently exists, the column straddling the dividing line of kitchen and studio creates a heavy composition within the space, obstructing light passage and dividing window space.  The installation will focus on lightening the column and refracting light to decrease this heaviness and instead focus on the other architectural elements which lighten the space such as the 4′ walls and the windows.  The aim of this installation will be creating a new ’subtractive barrier’ which lightens and combines the two spaces over an additive approach which might might increase the heaviness of the space.

Abruzzo, Emily, and Jonathan D. Solomon. Decoration. New York: 306090, 2006. Print.This collection of articles explores the nature of decoration within architectural design.  The authors have chosen interviews and academic papers which discuss divergent opinions on the nature of decoration in contemporary context.

Bell, Tiffany, et al. Light in Architecture and Art: the Work of Dan Flavin. Marfa: Chinati Foundation, 2002. Print.
This collection of essays is the result of a Symposium on the work of Dan Flavin located in Marfa, Texas in 2001.  From prominent art critics and historians, the presentations focus on the historical perspective of Flavin’s work in the medium of light as well as attention to the meaning and evolution of his style and background.
Coles, Alex. DesignArt. London: Tate, 2005. Print.
Drawing from many sources, including pattern, furniture, interior design, and architecture, Coles approaches the topic of where art and design converge.  The projects featured in this book address multi-disciplinary approaches to design and art where they successfully merge.
Lombino, Mary-Kay, and Philip K. Dick. UnNaturally. New York: Independent Curators International, 2003. Print.
This book is a focus on contemporary artwork inspired by nature but which focuses on the complex relationship between man and nature.  The artwork is not limited by media and was part of a traveling exhibition in 2003.
Newhouse, Victoria. Art and the Power of Placement. New York, NY: Monacelli, 2005. Print.
This book focuses on the placement of art in addressing how this affects the perception and even validity of art.  In-depth analysis of art presentation ranges from classical ways of presenting work, current presentation of foreign and cultural artifacts, and the curation of contemporary artwork.

final project, first sketch model

Posted on 04/28/2011 by Nancy Cheng
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test 1.0

test 1.0

test 1.1 interior

test 1.1 interior

This is my first physical test for a luminaire.  The idea behind this one is a ribbon of bounced color to encircle a simple white box.  The translucency of the material was unintentional, but I sort of like it.  I’ll continue to experiment with that as well.  I only modeled the corner of the box, for the sake of time, and it is obviously quite a bit smaller than my final project will be.

An incomplete bibliography

Posted on 04/28/2011 by Nancy Cheng
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Listed in the order that I’ve come across them:

Swirnoff, L. (2003). Dimensional color. New York: W.W. Norton.

The book provides a comprehensive overview of the role of color in the environment around us, and how different color effects can be achieved.  I have been very interested in the phenomena of bounced color in some of my previous studies, and I have been experimenting with the ways in which this might be incorporated into my final luminaire project.

Lobell, J., & Kahn, L. I. (2008). Between silence and light: spirit in the architecture of Louis I. Kahn. Boston: Shambhala.

Louis Kahn’s words and work are an excellent source of inspiration, especially with regards to light.

Weibel, P., & Jansen, G. (2006). Light art from artificial light: Light as a medium in 20th and 21st century art = Lichtkunst aus Kunstlicht : Licht als Medium der Kunst im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert. Ostfildern, Deutschland: Hatje Cantz.

This volume has a great number of inspiring art pieces created with artificial lighting.  One that particularly caught my eye was Jorge Pardo’s Ohne Titel (Lamp), found on page 608.  It’s a very dynamic and sculptural luminaire that is almost explosive in nature, but very balanced in its use of color and form.  I particularly enjoy the cool blue exterior, and the mechanical warmth of the interior in its yellow glow and the metal erector-set style frame.

Eliasson, O., Bal, M., & Grynsztejn, M. (2007). Take your time: Olafur Eliasson. San Francisco, Calif: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Eliasson’s installations and explorations of atmospheric and light phenomena are inspiring in their self-sufficiency.  He does not rely on exaggerated gestures of any sort, and I think that as I am exploring concepts for a luminaire, that his minimalism will provide a great framework to begin with.  By being very intentional with each iteration, I can come to better understand exactly how to create the desired phenomena and marry that into a luminaire.

http://www.architonic.com/pmpro/bruno-rainaldi/8104430/2/2/1

http://mocoloco.com/fresh2/2011/03/16/mummy-lamp-by-bruno-rainaldi.php

Bruno Rainaldi’s work seems to embody just the right amount of minimalism and intrigue that I think I will be pursuing.  Mummy Lamp is a series of overlapping metallic ribbons that are not quite perfectly aligned, which allows for a certain amount of bounced color to escape onto the white exterior of the pendant.  I appreciate the manner in which Rainaldi incorporated bounced light into his luminaire, and given my past explorations this quarter I think that it could be something I would like to incorporate into my design.

Last Week’s Lighting Class Work

Posted on 04/28/2011 by Nancy Cheng
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This post is an update for last week’s work – Sorry this is a little late!  This past week I have been researching other luminaire designs and getting ideas from other designers.  My favorite so far is Tazana where they laser cut beautiful designs.  In particular like how most of the lamps seem to lay flat, but when hanging, reveal their different forms.  I wonder if that’s something I can achieve with my design.

Here is my latest version.   These are mini versions of what will be a giant luminaire.  In this design I’ve tapered it down to a a small opening at the bottom.  While talking with Geoff and Dave during class they told me it reminded them of this Chihuly lamp.  The bottom sort of drapes and tapers off as if it continued on.  They suggested maybe a circular/spiral pattern to mine and maybe the ends would be loose and draping down to the floor.  They also suggested different materials: using Yupo, lasercutting and scoring so that it folds in the correct directions; or acrylic, thinking of the pieces as horizontal pieces instead of longitudinal, and introducing a blue acrylic every so often.  I’m excited to try both those ideas out.

Tomorrow I’m planning on laser cutting some pieces so we’ll see how they turn out.

Oops, having a rotation problem

Oops, having a rotation problem

Peer Review

Posted on 04/28/2011 by Nancy Cheng
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I’ve been a fan of Geoff’s work and am always interested in whatever new experiments he is doing.  It seems that he has chosen two similar forms to work with: a simple screen where triangular cuts are made that change in aperture as the screen is bent, expanding and contracting to filter different amounts of light; and a square module that is connected at the edges to create a scalloped form that reflects light and can also be bent.  Both have much potential in defining space and filtering light.  Adding a kinetic quality to the pieces also would connect the user to the space on a different level.

I do agree with him, in that the space where he will be installing his final project, manipulation of the light available there would be difficult.  A much more concentrated piece, a giant luminaire that would respond and interact with users would be much more manageable.  I’m not quite sure how easy or difficult it is to build a mechanism or frame for the object, but it would be interesting to see the luminary not only move in one direction, but along several axis.  Maybe expand and contract in response to the actions of the observer.  In one of his posts he mentioned PROJECTiONE (lightforms) where they have developed a module that interlocks with each other to create a luminaire.  The orbs are beautiful, and it’s a little disappointing they don’t squish and expand.  Of course, Geoff is already experimenting with the kinetic aspect with his latest experiment.  It would be interesting to see what materials he uses and if he will reintroduce bounced color back into his pieces.  A reading to revisit might be Jan Butterfield’s The Art of Light and Space – the section on color and the scalloped example.

Claire’s Changing Light video

Posted on 04/28/2011 by Nancy Cheng
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Claire-

It’s interesting to see the progression between your Changing Light video and your first test captures of the same ideas.  Your original study with the sweeping lines was very dramatic, and beautiful. The second exploration is more expansive, but also more subtle.  Nancy mentioned in her comment that “the abstract pattern has less emotional appeal,” but I disagree.  I think that this one just needs a little more experimentation.  Since the pattern is more abstract than your other exploration, maybe it should be thought of as something other than the singular focus of the room.  Think about the atmosphere of the room, and what would happen if you installed these panels on the sides of the light box or if they began to crawl onto other planes… A lot of people took a straight-on approach to the project, and I think that this one in particular wants to have a little more freedom to move about.

Another thing that struck me about your project was how the screen’s creased edges transmitted the greatest intensity of light.  The washing of color through the screen is cool, but the way that those edges really resonate with light is my favorite aspect of your project.  If you’re interested in exploring that in greater depth, you might experiment with a thicker material like foamcore to give you more control with how your creases and scores are receiving and transmitting the lighting source.

Peer Review

Posted on 04/27/2011 by Nancy Cheng
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Adam_

I thought your solar studies were interesting and it was a good idea to utilize a digital program. This allows you to set up a set of constants for lighting conditions which could be very useful as you proceed to study different screen designs. I thought some of the most interesting aspects of your video were when the shadows hit multiple surfaces like the stair case. Some things I think could be improved upon are the clarity and intensity of the screen design. The shadows were very subtle and it was hard to clearly make out your intended design. A diagram of the screen could also assist in understanding your intentions, or a simple rendering of the shading device so we can understand its construction.

As we discussed in class, if your going to continue a digital exploration it could get very difficult to translate that into the physical world. So it might be better to choose one or the other. Weve discussed your progress to date and it seems your moving towards a physical fabrication using extruded acrylic rods. A good referance for this would be an installation in Athens, Greece done by Howeler & Yoon called “White Light, White Noise.” Keep up the good work, HIGH FIVE!

http://www.hyarchitecture.com/