A nice, simple video to explain what how “parametric design” fundamentally works. No narrative, just a simple example of adjusting parameters of a brick wall. And a couple links to interesting parametric modeling-focused sites: Rethinking Architecture Designreform Parametric Design Continue reading parametric design sites
If you’re looking for some good books to read this holiday, I’ve posted my reading list from the past few years, including a few books that especially relate to the history of modern lighting technologies. Happy Holidays! Continue reading bibliography now online
Via Designboom, a nice art project from New York-based media artist Aaron Sherwood that utilizes an interactive stretched-fabric wall. Firewall from Aaron Sherwood on Vimeo. From Designboom: made using processing, max/MSP, arduino and a kinect, the piece measures the average depth … Continue reading firewall
Via Designboom, a fascinating (and extremely Media Lab-ish) concept project by design firm Berg for Google. Essentially a stereo vision system married to a projector that uses physical tokens to control the virtual world projected onto the real. Check out … Continue reading google smart lamp concepts
I came across this project from Andrew Saunders, a Assistant Professor of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, that was a winner in a 2011 design competition organized by ACADIA.org. Cool example parametric design; nice presentation board; and considering that I now … Continue reading luminous limacon
If I could start with a blank page and design my own residential lighting system from scratch, I would combine a Redwood Systems-style power-over-Ethernet centralized rack system to feed DC power and IP control all the way out to each … Continue reading residential lighting dream system
I stumbled across an amazing article from the UK site Daily Mail about Google’s data centers. The photography is beautiful and includes some very cool lighting effects, all of which seem the residual, unintended impact from the thousands of LED … Continue reading data center lighting
Philips Lumiblade 2012 from Dezeen on Vimeo. Dezeen has just produced a nice video piece on Philips’ Lumiblade OLED technology division, in Aachen, Germany. Continue reading philips lumiblade on dezeen
The architectural lighting industry has become quite familiar with disruption: A host of new technologies have brought dramatic change to our long dormant industry. However, what many have missed is that the industry’s channels to market are ripe for innovative disruption … Continue reading optimize the lighting industry: split it in half
Parisian designer and interior architect Noé Duchaufour-Lawrence has caught my eye with several projects that elegantly demonstrate the transition of architectural lighting systems from discrete, inanimate objects to interactive embedded luminous systems. Dezeen recently covered an installation titled Naturoscopie II … Continue reading noe duchaufour-lawrence
A delightful little robotic project from students at the Victoria University of Wellington called Pinokio, a project very similar to a project from MIT’s Media Lab that I posted a few years back. Check out the FastCompany Co.Design article describing … Continue reading your lighting is watching you
Following is an insightful quote from a FastCompany article titled “Why Good Design Is Finally a Bottom Line Investment“: COMMODITIZATION PUSHES DESIGNERS TO THE FORE Innovation usually cycles between periods of raw, technical inventiveness and the finer task of packaging it … Continue reading technical vs. design innovation
Another great project showcased on DesignBoom: Situated in Taicang, China, is a 300,000 sqm digital installation by Shanghai-based firm Super Nature Design. The ‘Nike China Logistic Center’ consists of environmentally friendly, low-energy sculptures showcasing its operational efficiency and infrastructure systems. Separate … Continue reading nike china logistics center
Nice neon installation as seen in DesignBoom. I’m not particularly interested in the fragile neon aspect of the art piece, but I can see this as a good example of incorporating flush-mounted luminous lettering or even digital media into wall … Continue reading neon installation by joseph kosuth
Here’s your lighting vocabulary word-of-the-day, and I’m betting that even if you’re the most hardcore lighting nerd, you haven’t heard it yet: Chromophore. According to Wikipedia: A chromophore is the part of a molecule responsible for its color. [1] The color arises when a molecule absorbs certain wavelengths of visible light and transmits … Continue reading word-of-the-day: chromophore
I urge the lighting design community to stop obsessing over “independence” and start focusing on how to support and drive new forms of collaboration: Collaboration with customers; collaboration with manufacturers and technology suppliers; and collaboration with contractors. The drive to … Continue reading lighting designers: “independence” is cutting your potential short
Interesting article from BusinessWeek on Phil Bosua, who is leading the LIFX project on Kickstarter. My favorite quote: “They’ve been inundated with offers from venture capitalists who noticed the huge response online, Bosua says. He declined to name the VCs.” Continue reading lixf founder phil bosua
Pebble. LIFX. TikTok. Plus hundreds of art projects. Film projects. Games. What do they all have in common? As of yesterday, they’re all being sued by 3D Systems — at least in the court of public opinion. Yesterday, 3D Systems, … Continue reading 3D Systems just sued everyone who’s cool
If you are a lighting nerd looking for a hobby over the holidays, check out this nice amateur photography site by Evan Sharboneau called PhotoExtremist. I especially like the “bokeh” and the “steel wool” tutorials…just don’t set fire to anything, please. … Continue reading photo extremist
Do you think it would be possible for a venture capital group to create a model similar to Y Combinator specifically for the lighting industry? For those of you who don’t know, Y Combinator is a Silicon Valley venture model that … Continue reading incubator for the lighting industry?
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