Shaping Light

This project started with my interest in patterned light. I first sought to build a lighting fixture of some kind that used artificial light and created patterns on the ceiling, walls, or floor of a room. This was inspired by my original interest in middle eastern mashrabiyas and patterned lamps. I furthered my conceptual development by analyzing our class readings under the same light as my project.

Erwin Hauer’s work with architectural screens and walls jumped out at me instantly and struck me as a modernist’s attempt to build concrete mashrabiyas at a much larger scale. With the same craft and detail of their wooden counterparts, these screens were more about the light on and through them rather than the patterns they produced. Reading Light Revealing Architecture helped me to analyze and understand different kinds of light and to decide to try to use focal glow, ambient luminescence, and play of brilliance in my project. The Geometry of Environment expanded my knowledge of symmetry and how I could apply it to my project. Vision in Motion furthered my understanding of vision by setting up and describing eight varieties of photographic vision. It also helped me analyze how light is seen and how it can be modified to alter experience. The readings in Dimensional Color furthered my education about bounced color and inspired me to play with color in my project.

In order to build a lamp that spread patterns across surfaces, I decided to use the IQlight pattern from Holger Strøm to create a globe-like lamp with perforated surfaces. The perforations in this surface would let light through the lamp and play shadows across surfaces. My first experiment with a cardstock lamp proved unsuccessful as the material let too much light through. At this point, I also decided that it would be interesting to have a smaller, completely patterned lamp inside of a larger, solid lamp. Therefore, the pattern would be cast upon the larger lamp since it would prove to be a closer surface.

I tried this with my second experiment using chipboard but was also unsuccessful. I furthered this experiment by putting the lamp in my light box from earlier projects and exploring the ideas of patterned light and added the concept of color using a multi-colored bulb. These explorations were quite beautiful but overall, proved to be too hard to pull off at a larger scale. I also started playing with surfaces for the light to fall on. I used a spiral-cut piece of paper to wrap the bulb and a piece of translucent foam. The translucent foam inspired me to bring back my screen ideas and use a fixed or moveable surface to cast the light on.

The four screens that I created employ patterned openings and transulcent surfaces to create distorted, dynamic patterns. These screens are small and can be easily moved and re-positioned. The thin, translucent surfaces are placed at a relatively close proximity to the screen to ensure that even in low lighting conditions, the patterns are cast and legible

Here is a gallery including images of the final installation. The panels are made from chipboard, yupo polypropylene, and black drafting tape to hide the seams. The black tape hides the connection points but also allows the connections to blend into the mullions.

Annotated Bibliography

1.) March, Lionel. The Geometry of Environment. MIT, 1974. Print.

                Initially I wanted to use this source as a reference to develop the patterns I would use on my screens.  Although my project headed down another road, this is still a great resource for looking at geometry.  It is interesting how repeating a simple shape in a variety of different ways can create vastly different geometric patterns.

2.) Hauer, Erwin, and John T. Hill. Erwin Hauer: Continua : Architectural Screens and Walls. New York: Princeton Architectural, 2004. Print.

                Continua is a good reference for inspiration on screening devices.  I really love the elegance of his screening devices, and the way they play with light.  I also find it interesting how he works with technology.  That is something I would like to do more in my projects.

3.) Olafur, Eliasson, Mieke Bal, and Madeleine Grynsztejn. Take Your Time: Olafur Eliasson. San Francisco, Calif: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2007. Print.

                Olafur Eliasson’s experiment Movement, looked at the beautiful images  created by shining a focused light source onto a simple disc.  As the disc moved in the breeze, the caustic images slightly changed and morphed into something new.

4.) Olafur, Eliasson, and Anna Engberg-Pedersen. Studio Olafur Eliasson: An Encyclopedia. Hong Kong: Taschen, 2008. Print.

                I am inspired by the simplicity of Olafur Eliasson’s projects, or rather the talent he has for making rather complicated and precise phenomena look simple and elegant.  I also enjoy that many of his projects openly display how they work, rather than concealing all the background components in a neat little box.

5.) Guzowski, Mary. Daylighting for Sustainable Design. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000. Print.

                This book is a good reference for architectural applications for my project.  Although it is currently designed as an object, it is interesting to think about how it could be transformed into a solar tube installation, or sky light fixture.

6.) Scarpa, Carlo, Guido Beltramini, and Italo Zannier. Carlo Scarpa: Architecture Atlas. Venezia: Regione Del Veneto, 2006. Print.

                This resource was used for my inspiration presentation on Carlo Scarpa.  I am constantly going back to Scarpa’s work for inspiration.  The simplicity in his work and the way he plays with light and water is incredible.  The Canova Plaster Cast Gallery is a great project to look at for light and contrast.   Scarpa is able to create a very dynamic atmosphere with the way he brings light into the gallery space.

7.) Alesina, Inna, and Ellen Lupton. Exploring Materials: Creative Design for Everyday Objects. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2010. Print.

                Exploring Materials is a great book to get quick ideas on materiality and simple ways of solving design problems.

8.)  Swirnoff, Lois. Dimensional Color. New York: W.W. Norton, 2003. Print.

                The reading on bounced color helped me to better understand the phenomena.  I am really interested in the use of color in projects, not just bounced color but also light filtered through tinted film like a stained glass window.

9.) “Moholy-nagy.org: The Moholy-Nagy Foundation.” Moholy-nagy.org: The Moholy-Nagy Foundation. Web. 21 May 2012. <http://www.moholy-nagy.com/>.

                I love looking through Moholy Nagy’s projects and experiments.   He works with light and the way we perceive color in really interesting ways.

Inspiration Presentation citations multisheet

I am proposing a series of window screens that would fit between the mullions of either a set of windows at the end of one of the studio bays or one of the sets of windows in the kitchen area. since the windows are of the same dimension, these screens can be inserted in different arrangements. As for the time frame of the setup of this installation, I intend on having them up on Monday, May 21 in the morning and they can be removed at any time this school year or this summer. The small size and temporary nature of this installation allows it to be easily mounted and dismounted. The introduction of a small fan to move a part of the screen might occur and it would be able to be turned on and off easily.

Attached is an annotated bibliography of sources that I have consulted or reviewed in this course.

Annotated Bibliography

After deciding that the lamp within a lamp idea was not going to work as I imagined, I moved on to combining my lamp with other objects and eventually came to a decision. I am going to look back in order to move forwards. I will return to the screen idea from earlier projects but will add a further level of development: a regular pattern falling onto an irregular surface. This irregularity will distort the original pattern and bring a further understanding of the distance from the object to the screen. This will be made manifest in a screen installation to be isntalled

After experimenting with the first draft, I found the cardstock to let too much light through. The effect of a lamp within a lamp was completely lost. I decided to experiment with another lamp that would be made out of a thicker material and have less perforations. The main concept was to project the pattern from this lamp onto the larger one.

Upon inserting this lamp into the bigger one as well, I discovered the patterned effect to be too minimal. However, it WAS interesting to use a colored bulb with this pattern.

This draft was an exploration of laser cutting a modular paper lamp. The modules are based on an existing pattern called the IQlight by Holger Strøm. I modified them by adding perforations. The original idea for this lamp was it to stand alone; however, I decided it could be interesting to insert it into a larger lamp to allow the patterns to be cast upon the closer translucent surface rather than be lost in a room. Below are pictures of the larger translucent lamp and the smaller perforated lamp. both are made from cardstock.