the luminaire

This project is done at University of Cincinnati during Summer 2015. The goal of the project was to create a luminaire design that would complement a lamp that each student was given. I had a Soft White 42W Twister, which is a CFL. According to its official website, the color temperature of this lamp is 2700K, which gives it a fairly warm light. The lamp gets very bright to the point that it is very uncomfortable to look at; yet it doesn’t get too hot. I focused on the color of the light and its brightness.

Fluorescent lights tend to have very bad color renderings, which led me to play on the color of the light and try to find which color it picks up the best. Thus, the color of light would be enhanced.

In addition to this, with this lamp, its brightness is a big issue. It causes a big discomfort to its surroundings and should either be eliminated from the environment or should be controlled. Going off of this idea, I tried out different types of liquids in an attempt to diffuse this very bright light and create different types of luminaires.

The shape of the luminaire is chosen to be a lantern due to its monolithic design. This design derives from the fact that there isn’t any compact stand that can withstand the weight of the liquid load, yet the luminaire is self-sufficient and self-standing. This is in contrast with the fragile-looking glass design and the lightness of liquid. Also a rather controversial (electric vs water) approach is chosen as a secondary design concept.