ArchLight

What is greater then a massive light box that you can actually put yourself in and become on display to the world.  I think this is what the architects of the Apple store were trying to create when they decided to place an entire glass structure lit from beneath emerging from the ground in the middle of NY.  

I mean what is more fitting.  NY is a city of display from fashion to art to architecture....and even further to people, events, images, and sayings.  It is a meca of trends and we are the followers.  The Apple store is actually a light box that glows the "apple" logo to the world.

Changing Glass

Light and materials. Bloomberg's headquarters features a product that not only combines architecture, art, and space but adds in technology. Bloomberg's office culture emphasizes transparency so designer John Blazy created an interactive material called Dichrolam. Dichrolam is the first glazing and surfacing architectural glass and plastic panals that has dichroic, color changing technology built into the material. The panals actually change color in full spectrum according to the viewing angle. It is like looking at the way light reflects off water.

Perceptions

I was reading a very old issue of Metropolis Magazine when I came across a rather interesting exhibitionist. His name is Spencer Finch. He is fascinated with the interaction of the physiological and the psychological aspects of perception. He views perception as the way our inner world casts a veil over the outer.
His installations are a mixture of art and architecture. The work he did called Matrix XIV - a wall of LED's and hand-cut fiber optics interact with the viewers by appearing to dim as they walk the length of the place. It creates an engaging atmosphere within the space. Finch's vision is an act of projection as much as apprehension. Darkness and light, blindness and insight, nature and science are all dichotomies that arise in Finch's work.

Transforming Light

light and architecture are two very fascinating concepts. I become amazed with how architects manipulate light through structure. One architect that blows me away is Jun Aoki. He takes simple geometric forms that are stripped of color and transforms them through the use of light. His structures are not only breath taking but intricate, peaceful, and mesmerizing.

He describes his work as "serene, silent, solemn, and supreme." I have added some images for you to understand how light can become a form within architecture.

WHITE CHAPEL 2006

XEL-HA BY AFLOAT 2005

LOUIS VUITTON HONG KONG LANDMARK 2005

LOUIS VUITTON GINZA NAMIKI 2004

Making Luxury

I was reading Kahn's thoughts on "making" and I began to wonder what is in involved in making and how do you classify something as being made...isn't everything made. This got me to thinking. Well, I also had other things on my mind. I was at work and we started talking about the notion of luxury. My boss asked to me to define what luxury is in todays corporate environment. I work in contract furniture so he wanted me to look at office lobbies and the corporate environment.

So with the idea of luxury, this word "making", and my blog of light in my head, I thought about a product from designer Barber Osgerby. It is a hand blown glass form filled with swarovski crystals. The mixture of glass with the play of crystals creates this magnificent illumination. The thing is do we consider this a luxury because it contains 70+ crystals within its simple form? Also each one of these forms are hand blown. This means that someone hand made the light just form the client. The process alone makes these unique fashionable elements a luxury.

Singularity

 

I can't even begin to talk about these designs.  I love them and their web-site is amazing.  LUZIFER is a company that designs their fixtures by looking at how lighting becomes a structural form within a space.  The lighting takes on a presence of its own making it a apparent piece in the interior environment.  They create intricate shapes with wood veneers ranging from soft curves to sliced feathered pieces. There is an interesting play of light and shadow in their products creating unique viewing angles.

Material/Form

  

Just reading about Tom Dixon inspired me to look at design and shape in a new way.  I feel like his way of viewing materials and interaction with form is a lot like investing the elements of process.  By this, I mean looking at the nature characteristics and exploring what developments may arise to end in a extraordinary outcome.

In an interview he once said:

"I think designer now are much more concerned about the shape of the object and their won personal evolution within it.  And I think a good designer is somebody who manages to put together all the elements-an understanding of materials and a belief in improving functionality-then puts the shapes on last as a result of all those experiments."  This quote made me think of the way Kahn talks about REALIZATION and INTUITION.  Designers all have an underline knowledge of material and form but we test that to see what great outcomes may arise. 

Color

 

Color...Light...Architecture

Urban Cinema complex in Vienna.  Completed in 2001 by LEX: Norbert Chmel. 

The colorful exterior plays off the imaginative world of entertainment.  The way the light produces a wash of color throughout the interior makes the occupant feel like they are walking through a wonderland.  The building takes on the characteristics of a film where the viewer is swept away into a different world or adventure.

Chandeliers

Who would have thought Swarovski crystals and re-claimed brass pipes could transform into a source of beauty.  Micheal McHale shows us the unexpected can be done.  He has no background in art or design.  But with a passion for materials, he began creating glamorous lighting out of everyday bland household objects.  His message is "beauty is all around us: in hardware stores, our basements, everywhere.  It just has to be harnessed in the right way."

His work makes me think of the way Kahn describes the word WONDER. He talks about Wonder as something that has lasting value.  It is the first response to the intuitive.  This is what I think about when read about and look at the work McHale is creating. 

Polypropylene

 

Polypropylene is an interesting material made of plastic that can be shaped into about an form.  It doesn't even need any closures if you create tabs the material actually locks within itself.  I used it in a light project while I was studying at RMIT.  To begin the project, I researched the material and the idea of origami.  

I came across Heath Nash.  The work he is doing is so unique.  He studied sculpture at the University of Cape Town but now is making lampshades and products.  He explores the notions of recycles empty bottle into beautiful objects.  I find his work to be fascinating.  

So when thinking about the Kahn and his words he uses to describe design...I thought of Nash and the JOY his work provided me.