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Shadow - An Elemental Component of Lighting
Yea, its impossible to escape the need to address shadows when talking about lighting. Contrasts, the difference between light and dark, are what provide depth and visual interest to the spaces we inhabit. The dark / shadow-y element is often taken for granted. When our focus shifts to the form & character of shadows we can appreciate their incredible beauty and graphic qualities. This post will go beyond examples of any everyday normally lit spaces that display the contrasts well... straight to extremes that are fun, that are pushing the boundaries of projecting shadow & light, and that display superior shadow-play by every measure!
Cool Shadow-play at normal scale, with practical application:
^ Calabarte makes lamps from carved gourds. 3D printed.
^ Lacelamps by the artistic duo Linlin & Pierre-Yves Jacques. Projecting delicate lace patterning to surrounding walls. Who needs wallpaper for texture when you can have this!?
^ 3D printed lamps by Nervous System include Hyphae, like veins of a leaf, or coral growth.
^ Peter Pieroborn makes the Plumb light sculptures from yellow cedar, red cedar and mahogany.
^ Finnish designer Kirsti Taiviola displayed ‘illusia' at Lux Craft exhibition in London UK in 2011. This pendant lamp features a fine, almost invisible texture on a handblown glass ball hidden in the lampshade, which creates a blossom-shaped projection of reflections on surfaces below. With three different levels of light intensity, the visibility of the reflection can be adjusted so the lamp can serve both decorative and illuminating functions. More examples of shadow-play at her link.
^ hutch studio produced this beautiful pendant of folded paper houses, casting some cool shadows on nearby surfaces! It is comprised of 33 paper houses made from vintage 50's cookbook pages. They hang with thread from a spiraling wire support.
^ Vibia's Meridiano stool / footstool / table can work indoor or outdoor. Design by Jordi Vilardell & Meritxell Vida.
Daylighting Shadow-play on a slightly larger scale:
^ LZF's Paisley screen was created by the Spanish designer Luis Eslava.
^ Creo Hall by Akira Sakamoto Architect & Associates, an excellent example of an architectural designer contemplating the movement of the sun through the space. Photo © Yoshiharu Matsumura.
Additional Goodies to enjoy:
^ Created by mixed media artist Anila Quayyum Agha, this elaborately carved cube with an embedded light source projects a dazzling pattern of shadows onto the surrounding gallery walls. Titled Intersections, the installation is made from large panels of laser-cut wood meant to emulate the geometrical patters found in Islamic sacred spaces. Learn more here.
^ Shadows do not always have to be dark, they can take form in beautiful color! Starting as a simple circle of white, when one enters the light breaks like a prism.
^ Ripple, by Poetic Lab. When a beam of light projects through the gently rotating mouth-blown glass dome, shadow and light form a breathtaking, ever-changing pattern. Perfect for a spa or relaxation space, right?!
^ At the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago US. Focus Lighting uses spotlights shooting 60 feet down through large liquid-filled disks, projecting ripple patterns on the floor to allow exploration of liquid wave dynamics. OK, not something you'd have in your sitting room, but cool just the same!
For additional inspirations, check out more examples at my Pinterest. Add a comment with any great shadows you've seen or experienced.
Worthy News Items
GravityLight 1 prototype in situ
Two important and interesting items are in my feeds today, and are post-worthy here.
First up (shown above), a possible first-world solution to a third-world issue... GravityLight 2 is campaigning for funds to create jobs, manufacture, and bring LED light into the lives of many millions of people. GravityLight 2 IndieGoGo vid. From the campaign information... 'As well as designing GravityLight to provide a clean, safe and affordable alternative to kerosene lamps, we also want to create local jobs, skills and livelihoods for those who make and sell GravityLights.' This is a brilliant idea, deserving of our consideration, and our backing.
One the other hand, something inspirational & thought-provoking without an actual product...What Is "Design Fixation," And How Can You Stop It? The Premise - Your first design solution may not be the best. The Advice - Explore options, dig deep, get creative, look for multiple design solutions early. From the folks at LifeHacker: 'As design blog Fast Co. Design explains, money, time, or ego might make someone stick to their first idea, even if something better comes along. While creativity is an iterative process, you can bypass the tunnel vision that comes from focusing on a single idea by generating multiple ideas at the start. It helps even more if you can bring other people into that process to help challenge your ideas or offer alternative input.' This re-enforces a team approach, a collaborative process, and working less in isolation. I have long been an advocate for all that.
Bravo! Both Brilliant! ideas. h/t to both Gizmodo & LifeHacker.
Big & Beautiful! Large scale lighting at its best!
Let's face it, large scale light fixtures can often be stunning. This post will concentrate on some personal favorites, fixtures to find a home for (if I'm lucky enough to get to design spaces where they work well), and the ins & outs of what goes into successful large scale fixture design.
Let's begin with an outdoor piece shown above. FoxCat Design makes the NI Parasol. Three channel lighting system with individual one-touch dimming give plenty of looks to this piece. Plus it can be customized by the fabric color used. The down-light ribs uses color temperature of 1800K LED candle light colour making it easy on the eyes at night time. The up-light ribs uses colour temperature of 2200K warm light color. The parasol can even be lit while closed to provide a 'torch-like' light to the surroundings. This is a red-dot design award winner from 2014 .
Moving inside now. Large domed and drum shape lights have been around for ever. However, getting them right so glare from exposed lamping isn't an issue is a design challenge. Below are a few designers who met that challenge head-on.
^ The Super Gea from LZF is one fine example, by Spanish designer Marivi Calvo. This lovely is a perfect 'clean lines' minimal approach to lighting a space, and its available in 9 wood veneers to make it easy to match with various color schemes. This has a bottom diffuser to hide direct view of the lamping. Simple and effective.
^ Another LZF item, the Spiro SG by designer Remedios Simón is a bit larger than the Gea and uses a pattern of various wood circles to diffuse the light source. You should be able to find this in a variety of word & color combinations.
^ Here is an example of a design that makes no bones about the source, but almost celebrates it. Called the Hatchlight, its part of a commissioned installation in a series of Paris restaurants, by Studio Robert Stadler. The glare is minimized using a 'silver-tipped' lamp (where the silver coating hides the filament from direct view and re-directs the light in this case back up into the bowl of the fixture). Plus the hand applied lining makes each lamp unique. There is a great projection of patterns to the floor from this dome. I also like the tight cone of light and how as one moves through the space there would be this dynamic movement in and out of these illuminated pools. I have my eye on a similar fixture on Etsy available to purchase.
^ Capture by Paul Cocksedge
^ Here is the direct opposite of the Hatchlight... Paul Cocksedge's Capture, is a hand-spun aluminum dome that holds a glowing white light. The hollow 5 ¼ foot piece is more or less a lighting fixture, but all of the infrastructure that you normally associate with lights are invisible. The wiring, bulb and electrical cables are hidden away, and instead viewers simply see a flat, white light that appears captured by a film across the base of the dome. The opening of the dome is actually empty and the light source is totally invisible, which creates a trippy effect that leaves you wondering where the light is coming from and where it’s going. “I didn’t want to see the light source, what I’m interested in is light itself, just light” Cocksedge says. “I was trying to create an object when you look up into it, there’s absolutely nothing there apart from light.”
^ On to another projected piece on a grand scale... Focus Lighting designed lighting for the Science Storms exhibition in the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago IL USA. Seen here, spotlights shoot 60 feet down through large liquid-filled disks and project ripple patterns on the floor to allow exploration of liquid wave dynamics.
Materials also play an important role in successful large-scale lighting. Typical metal and glass can be augmented with or replaced by wood, silk, plastics, felt, etc. in fascinating ways. A few examples below…
^ Claesson-Koivisto-Rune, aluminum, for Wastberg
^ Art Deco era, glass & metal
^ Vancouver CA designer Peter Pierobon's "Plumb", cherry
^ Fortuny's Scheherazade, silk
^ German firm Ecker Architekten designed the Kunterbunt kindergarten and daycare centre, plastics
^ “Soundless” by Ola Gillgren, felt
^ Ending now with lighting on the grandest of scale! The ºXXL(amp) by Bart Lens, for edendesign.be is essentially a flattened dome, inspired by the shape of a Chinese lantern. The twelve-segment construction makes the connection with the lantern, but a pumpkin perhaps comes to mind, or a hot-air balloon.
Interested in seeing more like these? Hit the link to browse my Pinterest.
Architectural Trendspotting: Negative Space
Some time ago I came upon this story of the House In Fontinha (shown above) and was intrigued by the 'cutout' entrance. The simplicity of negative space creating an entrance is not seen in run-of-the-mill design. That image got tucked away for future reference... Now is that time. Recently my feeds have shown a series of similar spaces based upon the absence of structure. The engineering on display ranges from simple to complex, the results are always eye-catching.
Many are entrances, some include room for a car, a few become enclosed deck space (where lack of structure allows enhanced views).
^ Stay Residence / Studio Loop
^ Baran Studio
^ House P / BECHTER ZAFFIGNANI ARCHITEKTEN
^ Desert Courtyard House / Wendell Burnette Architects
^ Maison 2G / Avenier Cornejo Architectes
^ lightbox2 / nott
Modeling for Purpose & Communication
Some architecture professionals, and those of us in related design fields, may lament the demise of architectural model making. In fact, the clients we work with might too (though they might not know what great things they're missing). This collection of images (and the sites/posts they link to) will indicate otherwise. Model making, and its ability to communicate effectively, is alive and well (if perhaps not employed often enough!). All too frequently in the digital age, its often easiest to create an on-screen representation and leave it at that. In 3D, its possible to more effectively communicate the design, as well as review any aspect over and over or from a new angle. Architectural study models are often done quickly. Their purpose to aid in design work on massing, spatial relationships, scale, interaction of volumes, etc. A presentation model is one shown to a client. It is a skillfully crafted & meticulously scaled model of the proposed structure.
Enjoy a look through this group of physical models...
A model can allow us to view through...
^ Campus Novarits, Frank Gehry
... or can show plan and section views together.
^ Kew House, Piercy & Co 2012
A model can communicate movement...
^ Selvika National Tourist Route in Norway
...and sense of scale.
^ Disney Concert Hall, Frank Gehry
I often prefer models that are lit, for the extra detail they can provide.
^ Church Of The Light, Tadao Ando 1989
^ Street view in Tirane Albania, G Struga 2012
^ Winery, CCA
^ Slovakian Residential Development Project
^ Villa Vita Cancer Centre
^ Here's a true study model of a lightwell design, to look at element angles effects on light delivery. Which do you prefer?
Model making can also be a colorful or whimsical obsession...
^ 387 Houses, Peter Fritz, 2013 Venice Biennale
^ Paperholm GIF, Charles Young
...and can even be done at full scale!
^ Borromini’s San Carlo Church at full scale, Mario Botta
Jean Marc Gady, French Designer
Fine designs of decorative lighting by Jean Marc Gady.
^ French CanCan in white and black pleated shades (with two Ammo vases in the center). From the artist: '...a sculptural wheel... offering not only a new vision but also a new function... a mischievous evocation of the cancan dancers' petticoat, and at the same time a deconstruction of their dance.'
^ Here, two Candy Canes on display. I'll wager that you've not seen a fluorescent tube looks so good! From the artist: 'When dissolved in waves of ribbed glass..., it becomes a magic ray caught in an extravagant shell case.'
Inventive, creative, playful... I want to find a home for these in the near future! The grand scale that some designers work in is an inspiring sight to behold! Jean Marc Gady also makes furniture, tableware, and works in scenography, space, & product design.
New Year! New Site!
Welcoming the new and anticipating the thrilling possibilities in upcoming projects.
First, a quick look at some of the fabulous projects of the recent past...
^ Autumn Hill Lane with Brown + Davis Design.
An AIA VERMONT CITATION AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN ARCHITECTURE!
^ Hermitage Base Lodge / Club House with Austin Design Inc & John Guminak Design.
Years in the making, from renderings and complex plans to opening day.
Additional images of each project may be seen in the Portfolio.
7 Tips to Capture a Perfect Architectural Photo
Picture This: is a great post on getting the best images of architecture. I love that the #1 tip is all about getting the light right. I'd add to it that lighting fixtures should be turned on in most instances. If we as lighting designers have done our jobs correctly, the spaces have been greatly enhanced by the fixtures, the layout, and the way the light falls upon the objects and structure. Show it off! h/t to architizer
Shortest Days of Light
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Here we are, in the midst of some of the shortest days of light in the northern hemisphere. Most of us are 'burning it at both ends' with regard to bringing light into the spaces we occupy. Now is the time (if you haven't already) to use LED light as much as you can. Since most of use live/work in existing buildings, we need to have replacement light bulbs to go in our fixtures and lamps. My current favorites are the CREE A-lamp Replacement LEDs. They give off great light, are dimmable, and fit all the places we have most older lightbulbs. These are offered in common wattage equivalents (hopefully someday we can all stop thinking in those terms, perhaps generations from now) and also have 3-way lamp versions. I've been specifying CREE since they first arrived on the lighting scene with recessed can light replacement modules. They are an industry leader, they continue to make great strides in improving the technology (and the quality of light), and they provide LED components for others.
7 TED Talks for Designers
There are so very many inspiring talks in the TED universe. Here a small collection with the likes of John Maeda, Philippe Starck, Simon Sinek, etc. speaking about good design, simplicity, creativity, and inspiration. 7 TED Talks, h/t to invisionapp.com