Make Mag has an article about the installation going on until November 17, 2008 by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. The installation is called “Pulse Park,” and it is the simultaneous recording and interpreting of 200 heartbeats by light. There are articles all over about this - NY Mag wrote one that describes the process and all goings on of the exhibit, and quotes Rafael: “It’s meant to bring everyone together, to allow people to express some sort of agency in a public space. It’s by no means medical.”
That’s awesome. So is this:
Rafael has also done exhibits called “Pulse Room” (in Mexico) and “Pulse Front” (in Toronto). If you check out his portfolio site, there are videos listed of all of the exhibits. Rafael, JimOnLight wants to say that your work is much appreciated. The video of “Pulse Room” is very, very beautiful. This link takes you to a QT movie of it.
Inhabitat posted an article about the huge award that the Watercube (The Chinese Aquatic Center) won from the Australian Institute of Architecture. The award, called the Jorn Utzon Award for International Architecture, is a prestigious honor - but anyone who saw the Watercube on broadcast of the 2008 Summer Olympics knows how beautiful the Watercube really was, and how amazing a collaboration between form and function it brought to our minds.
The Watercube was a joint collaboration between PTW Architects, Chinese firms CSCEC and CCDI, and the international firm, Arup.
From Inhabitat’s article - I love this quote:
The jurors who selected the Watercube said, “The Watercube uses state-of-the-art materials to create a visually striking building that is also energy-efficient and ecologically friendly. The most impressive aspect of the project is the outer shell or molecular skin that envelops the building. The building has a chameleon-like quality that captures light in an extraordinary and memorable way. In every respect, the Watercube is an engaging and ethereal building that comfortably straddles the traditions of both Chinese and Western architecture.”
I just discovered a designer, Daniel Becker, who has some very interesting luminaires, doing very off things to form and function. Beautiful things. German things.
I’m going to post a few of his designs over the next few days. Check out this one - it’s called Tee-Licht, which obviously means “huge ball supernova light thing” in German.
You MUST go to the Yatzer Design Blog and check out the exhibit by Héctor Serrano Studio for Roca called Waterdrop. This is an amazing exhibit. Make SURE to watch the video that’s halfway down the page.
Inhabitat has a great article about the Dobpler LED Wall, which is a motion-activated LED installation in the pedestrian tunnel in Sandnes Sentrum, Norway. The installation was a part of the city’s European Capital of Culture 2008 events - The Strømmer, as it is called, is an interactive wall of LEDs that illuminate when a person passes by it, and follows that personas they travel down the wall. There’s a great video of this on the website of the architect, Snohetta Architects of Norway.
The Strømer is the brainchild of Stig Skjelvik and Snøhetta architects in collaboration with Prototyper AS and Rasmus Hildonen. It is based on Stig’s Dobpler prototype, a modular interactive LED system that is activated by movement. When arranged next to each other, the project create a uniform series of modules that illuminate based upon a visual input system. As people move through the tunnel the wall lights up and leaves luminous trails behind them. Needless to say, this is a great way to turn a very, well, pedestrian space into a brand new experience.
Look at some of the images from the installation. Does that not look like a lot of fun?
In researching about the Sustainable Dance Club concept, I discovered an article by Inhabitat about a series of dance club installations in Germany and Spain called Kubik. These temporary dance club venues were outdoor installations created by lighting up reclaimed industrial tanks and fusing them into a melding of architecture, music, and lighting.
You definitely need to check out the project pages - Kubik had installations in Berlin, Barcelona, and Lisbon. These were all “green” (environmentally friendly) and temporary, and apparently a big hit.
Have you seen any of those Sony Walkman commercials with the guy playing the big fluorescent tube looking instrument? That’s Atsuhiro Ito, and the fluorescent tube he’s playing is in fact a fluorescent tube, mic’ed up and connected to a ton of effect pedals. Check it out:
A second video, this time with Yoichiro Shin on percussion:
Instructables user “hands_on” has created a lamp from concrete, glass, and some other easily obtainable materials. His process is well-documented, and this project looks like it belongs in a hoity-toity setting!
For some reason, I’d rather call this the “Amazing Honeycomb Lamp,” but I obviously did not design it…
Bee-hold (oh dear): Yaroslav Rassadin’s “Beehouse Lamp.” A honeycomb-cut structure with a yellow crystal fill wthin the comb structure. From Yar’s website:
The idea of beehouse is a combination of natural bee’s building process and crystal technology.
The scheme of cell’s filling is taken from actual process of beehive building.
Honey, which is essential for bee’s survival, is transferred here into crystals, making them basic element for building a new design. Material: white bend plastic & honey-yellow Swarovsky crystals.
Jim On Light is a blog about light - lighting, light and art, lighting devices, lighting control, lighting fixtures, lighting concepts, and anything else that deals with light as its medium.
Jim on Light is written by Jim Hutchison, Chief Design Consultant of Alive Lighting. Jim has years of experience in the Entertainment Lighting industry. Jim is a member of USA Local 829.
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