Light and Water Precedents

Hi! This is my very first blog posting :)

I'm doing my thesis on the effects of natural elements such as daylight, artificial light, and water associated to architectural spaces and materials. The integration thereof, suggests a peaceful oasis, and a restful place especially in dense urban cities. I'm proposing contemplative spaces in the city to provide "pockets of relief" for weary, overburdened, and busy individuals, available as a public amenity. These spaces require an established system that can be controled and outsourced to other locations if necessary to produce a desired light and water featured moment as a type of atmospheric weather to amalgamate or possibly merge the two different natural forces to create a new environment.

My precedent studies are both artists and architects.

1 Moshe Safdie, Harvard Business School Chapel

2 Peter Zumthor, Therme Vals

3 KLab, Architecture Villa

4 Tadao Ando, Church of the Light

5 Steven Holl, Cappella di Sant'Ignasio

In Search of Precedence

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/2008_in_photographs_part_2_of.html

Some photographs of light - and some other interesting photographs. Worth a peak.

Like the one above...

I found this great book at the Finearts library called "Light Art." I highly recommend taking a look at it if you get the chance.
Here are a few lights artists I found in the book that fascinated me:
Astrid Klein
Heinz Mack
Christoph Hildebrand
Yoshiaki Kaihatsu
Sylvie Fleury

Fog Light

This is a few experiments I have performed in my fog cube. It's interesting how the color of the light mixes inside the fog. I realized it's kind of a extension of the first class project we did together where we were shining lights through the colored screens and hitting different objects.

Update on Candle Projector

This is what I've got so far...I still have to play with the light inside. The construction is looking good, so I've just got the playing part left to do!!!

The brains.

The skeleton.
The guts.

Liquid Light

After a few failed attempts, I found out that making "glow liquid" out of Mountain Dew is a hoax. It's disappointing, but makes me feel a little better about the ingredients in Mountain Dew.

There is a way to make glow liquid yourself, but the chemicals are expensive, so I caved in and ordered larger glow sticks with more liquid in them.

In the meantime, I've been thinking about the core of my glow stick project. I'm fascinated with embodying light in a liquid, and the surreal quality of experiencing it as a liquid no longer trapped within a container. This has led to countless broken glow sticks in my apartment. Here's a video of me pouring "liquid light" into a glass:


This sparked the train of thought that led me to where I am now:

Fascination with glow sticks --> ordering a lot of bendy glow bracelets online --> twisting glow sticks into different shapes --> realizing these bracelets could be twisted to look like compact fluorescent light bulbs --> realizing that actually, they didn't look anything like light bulbs after all. Sadness. --> decided to create a hollow light bulb, fill it with glow liquid, and drain it --> acquired a hollow light bulb look-alike from a glassblower --> fill, drain, record the change over time... but what happens after it leaves the light bulb?

This can challenge the way we view light- it starts as a familiar form (the light bulb) and over time the bulb is drained, and the light only exists in splatters on the floor. It also embodies the energy we use, oddly quantifying the light by its escape over time. In thinking of how to push the project further, I'm currently pondering a setup like this:

The light still runs and gathers, and the form on which it drips is very simple (basically a half-sphere, with raised edges so the liquid doesn't run all over the floor) but the patterns the liquid will form won't be simple. They won't be predictable either. It's controlled in some ways, but random enough that I won't actually know what the final product will look like until it's happening. As soon as my larger glow sticks arrive in the mail, I can start experimenting.

Dream Machines

Dream machines are "stroboscopic flicker devices" that have come in and out of popularity over time. They're really easy to make if you can find something to turn the cylinder at the right speed. You can get a basic idea from Wikipedia

Here are some cool light artists thought you guys might be interested in...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpQInevxlig

http://www.cruz-diez.com/chromosaturation/

$875 Less Lamp You Break With A Hammer

This is a lamp that is designed to be a solid black shell that you pierce holes in with the hammer provided.

First Experiments with Matches

Strike from Laura Thompson on Vimeo.

One Day Poem Pavilion

One of my friends just sent me this, and it's really a beautiful example of how we can experience natural light as it changes throughout the day in a very profound way.


One Day Poem Pavilion

You can find a time-lapse video of the light here.

post away!