Origami Lighting
Pratt Institute Student Choice Award - Junior 1st Place
Date: 5 weeks
Size: 30 x 30 x 36 in
Medium: Vellum, recycled umbrella frame, and frosted acrylic
Problem Statement: Create an lighting that is abstract and exploratory in nature; producing an avant-garde, innovative lighting experience/effect, and the form/apparatus that creates it.
Objective: To design an lighting that interacts with people and create beautiful shadow.
This lighting was inspired by origami tessellations which show the movement of geometric shapes expanding and folding. To show the movement of the tessellation, an umbrella was chosen as a structure that shares a similar feature of expanding and collapsing. The translucent material allows the light to have geometric shadows projected on the floor. The combination of this tesselation shadows and umbrella shows the abstract shape of the rain and the rain hitting the ground creating water droplets that represent the overall shape of this lighting. Once the lighting is open, the rain starts to fall same as when we open our umbrella on raining day.
Different origami tesselation techniques were tested and it figured out that this project aims for origami tesselation that expands in four different directions when it unfolds. Various origami tesselations have unique characteristics and mechanisms that can be suggested for different situations. Four examples shown here were hand-folded and tested for this lighting and inspired further projects.