Flat Pack Luminaire (Spring 2015)
Balancing form, function, and value
Designs are often measured in terms of "cost vs. benefit." The development of successful products that deliver beautiful experiences, function well, can be easily assembled, and priced appropriately - requires the designer to balance many different variables.
The object of this project was to design and fabricate a pendant luminaire that will ship flat with minimal secondary processing (machining, painting, etc.) The luminaire should be designed so that it can be easily assembled as a RTA (ready-to-assemble) kit. The composition and quality of light produced by the luminaire should be considered and advanced throughout the development. Thoughtful form explorations should focus on the extended dimensionalities of two-dimensional materials. Cost and material use analysis must be considered as a key component in this design using Ponoko.com as a model for output.
Pretty early on, I knew I wanted warm light. I also discovered that foggy plastic or delrin did a good job of filtering the light with a soft appearance. Layering the "foggy plastic" also looked particularly nice. As you can see I tried all sorts of ideas. Below was my almost successful geometric arrangement of triangles around the light source using different materials within the triangle to control the quantity of light.
This project was particularly model heavy. You can't draw a bunch of concepts of lighting and know how the light will fall or how the light will filter through certain materials. It just takes experimenting and modeling up every idea that pops into your head.
The concept of "leaves" placed on a horizontal axis went the farthest. It began as just a single plank that held the leaves that rotated around, and from there I added a second axis that made the center structure look like a horizontal cross. This created a small internal case of leaves and a larger external layer. In the final stages, I moved toward a symmetrical arrangement that allowed light to peak from the bottom and escape on the top.
Final Design
The interior is a clear acrylic and in order to maintain a stronger internal structure I moved to a my oval shape with flat tabs rather than a cross. The flat tabs allow for the leaves to always remain in the same place when assembled. The internal layers of leaves are delrin, and the external leaves are a textured paper (watercolor). The acrylic structure worked well because light could be carried out through it.
