Lighting Project
The Horizon Light
December 2012
This project was a fun one to work on! We were all asked to create some sort of lighting fixture, but to look at it during the conceptual stages as building with light, not a beautiful object. This was admittedly difficult for me to do at first, also I think everyone started out on that foot. Originally, I had planned to construct a lamp using shards of CDs to refract the light into colors and reflect it onto nearby surfaces, however, this changed once I realized I couldn't figure out how my material would shape my lighting fixture. Stumped, I googled various photographs of light and shadow.
Soon after I stumbled across a photographed landscape of the sun setting on a bay of a town. The sunlight was being squeezed in between the rooftops and gray clouds, creating a line of warmth on the opposite buildings. This sparked my imagination, and I designed my fixture, which I named the "Horizon" light. Through my design I created a table-top task light which would mimic the layout of the photograph in a sense. The base of the fixture would direct the bulbs light upwards through an opening at its peak and then the light would reflect off of galvanized metal set above, but not too far away, directing it back down onto the table surface and whatever the user may be working on. The galvanized metal could be switched out by simply popping it out of the frame upon which it sits, with a different material so that various effects could be achieved. This would also provide a way of changing the bulb as well.
Overall I was happy with my concept and design, however construction was difficult especially because of my own lack of expertise when working with the materials I had chose. If it were to ever be produced again, I would have to adjust the size a bit to make the opening for the light wider while still maintaining the proportion, as well as finish off the "frame" a bit nicer. I think I'd end up discarding the ability to swap out materials, and simply leave the metal and cover the top with wood, this way the lamp's frame could be used as a small shelf when sitting upon a desk. It was also suggested to me (which I had thought of briefly when designing the Horizon light) that it could be used in restaurants, directing attention down to the food on the table while being low enough to ensure that diners would be able to still see one another clearly over the lamp (more specifically, one of my peers suggested a japan-esque style restaurant).
Rendering of my light and how it would be used/place where it would be used that was required to be turned in with the physical light itself. Just a quick one done with SketchUp and Photoshop.
Photo taken of my Horizon light after the critique was finished. I placed the light against this wall to demonstrate the "horizon" line that's created when the lamp is illuminated.
Another photograph to help with documentation.
The underside of the light, showing how the galvanized metal reflects the light back down onto the table. Also demonstrates how the "frame" is held up.
This photograph was taken to demonstrate how different materials placed in the "frame" could give the light different effects. Here is a piece of plexi, with patterned paper stretched across. (The paper was from a prior AutoCAD class in which we had to create a tessellated pattern in the program then print it on sticker paper... and I finally found a use for it!)
