The Lighting Engine
ENTRY 1
I kicked off my project by venturing around campus and collecting evidence of various lights in the environments. These ranged from hallway lights to classroom lights to dorm lights, serving a variety of needs. See a curated group of these lighting devices below:











I then proceeded to explore light interacting with types of paper, sometimes folded, crumpled, etc.










I then perused the interwebs, searching for a wider variety of lighting options, also serving a variety of functions.








ENTRY 2
I experimented with a couple of different paper types and looked into a couple of different aspects of how these papers can interact with lights, folding, etc.









ENTRY 3
I spent this time trying out a couple of loose ideas that I’d come up with so far. I’m not loving the current ideas, but there are still more things I’d like to try out. I think the next steps are to acquire some new paper — I’m thinking bristol — and see what shapes I can create that are not only interesting but serve the purpose of being a conference room light. I need to be able to diffuse the light well, which is a challenge on it’s own. This step in the process definitely solidified the idea that I think I want to work with multiple types of paper — some vellum-like tracing paper and well as some thicker stock, ideally some that is more cooly toned.



ENTRY 4
I went into this next step knowing that I wanted to refine my ideas, trying out a paper that was stiffer and stronger, and adapting my ideas to really work in the conference room environment.


This was an adaptation of the more round design I made for last class. I wanted to continue using the mix of transparent paper and the elongated shape, but make something with a more dynamic form. I think there’s still a lot to adapt form here, but I think this idea is a really good place to start off from. I would also like to make this at a more extreme scale. I think it feels like it could be actually found in a conference room, but I want further iterations to bring a little more fun to the table.


I did attempt to make a larder version of the twisted lamp, but I couldn’t help but feel that it was the wrong direction to be heading. I felt like the shape really just doesn’t apply to the conference room, and there’s more room to grow with the other option I tried out.
I think that the next steps for me are to pin down a couple of different ways to create a more dynamic form within the basic idea of the faceted lamp. I really like the idea of playing with transparency and planes and I gathered some inspiration online to help guide me to that next step:




ENTRY 5
I feel like I’ve come a long way from my last iteration at this point (mainly based upon my own personal feelings towards it, feeling more confident in the effectiveness of the shape, the temperature of the light, etc.). We had our group review on Tuesday, which I think really helped me with my idea and to calm my nerves regarding the form, since my peers reacted in an overall more positive manner than I expected.


Generally, it felt to me like the responses I was receiving were positive — the correct type and amount of light were being emitted, it felt balanced, and fits the mood of the place in which it would live. The things that were pointed out for me to change were that it was a bit small and that harsh light was being emitted from some accidental-looking slits where the sides (didn’t really) meet. Steve also suggested that I try a translucent paper with a bit more structure.
My plan for the next steps was to size up, adjust the shape just a bit to make it a bit more visually “interesting”, try a new paper (I used yupo, since it was suggested by the people at the art store) and to really try to close those seams cleanly.




I managed to resolve most of the problems that I was dealing with, but I ran into a few other issues. For the next and final project (I’ll probably do some more iterations before the FINAL final) I need to devise a way to smoothly cover the light socket. I also ran into some issues when putting this iteration together regarding the glue I was using — the paper didn’t want to dry quickly at all and it was getting a bit messy. I want to try out using different adhesives, likely some heavy-duty double-sided tape for the final. I’ll probably stick with my current paper selection though, since I really like the current temperature and stiffness.
I’d also like to make some more scale models in order to text out some other form ideas.
ENTRY 6
I spent my Friday brainstorming ideas for a different form. I wanted to really go one direction or the other, so I decided to try and be as angular as possible.
I brainstormed a couple of different shapes, ones that would also cover the light socket, and built a 1/2 scale model of my general idea.



ENTRY 7
For the last leg of this project, I build the final to-scale lamp. I had to make multiple runs to the art store to purchase more and more paper, and over the rest of the weekend and Monday, I completed the final model. On Monday, I photographed the finished project.





