Brief: Design a way to enhance working life using light.
Industry Partner: Fjord
Group Partners: Erick, Sia, Abigail, Chun
Tasks & Processes: Collaboration, User Research, Ideation, and Conceptual Development, Model Making
, Prototype Iteration, Event Planning, Content Strategy, Client Pitch
Tools: Sketch, Adobe Photoshop,3d workshop, Keynote, Google Drive
01 project overview
about the project
Our proposal to Fjord, the Dynamic natural lighting system is a long-term multichannel strategy that engages people Experimenting with new technologies and methods for creative exploration working space.
The main design outcome of this project is interactive systems that respond to human contexts.
We wanted to look at the benefits that natural light brings into people and we found that natural light environments provide comfort and the mental and visual stimulation necessary to regulate human circadian rhythms. However, natural light, according to the latest sector analysis, still represents a low light source, and that’s why we wanted to focus on the different uses we could make of natural light in the workplace.
Our outcome has three parts. Which are the main building and two modes of rooms? In our team, each one of us takes in charge of each room. Erick took the water room, Chun took the mirror room, Sia and I took the fiber room and the whole building. After we finish each room's idea and prototype, we combine them together.
my role & learning outcomes
I played a lead role in analyzing our research and sketching. It is an important part of the project to effectively combine all the ideas that have been put together to form a diverse workspace, so I have used my strengths in this regard and considered the short-term and long-term effects of the design.
This project has provided me with valuable experience in working with design studios and has been able to establish contact with the organizations we develop and design for. It expands my understanding of the UX macro approach and reminds me to focus on the interconnection of design issues. I am now more inclined to design while viewing a larger picture, and how the designed content actually fits into its broader scope, not just the problem or organization.
Aims
We wanted to create diverse and efficient ways to use natural light in the workspace. By diverse we mean beyond illumination purposes and by efficient we mean using more natural light over artificial light.
Choosing natural light over artificial light to counter our reliance on artificial resources, when there’s other alternatives. This fits into a context in which our lifestyle must change to address the current climate change emergency.
Tackle light as an inspirational source: “Light belongs to the heart and spirit. Light attracts people, it shows the way, and when we see it in the distance, we follow it.” Ricardo Legorreta (architect)
02
research process & outcomes
background:
At the point when we get our brief, we were confused about how to Developing critical approaches to the design of digital interfaces by natural lights. It appears to be an engineering project, however, how might we work it out to enhance working life using light? We chose to do general desk research separately, and pick one to two subjects that intrigued us.
Lightning Jellyfish
Ando's works are cleverly centered on the use of light.
Clearwater concrete wall. Light naturally becomes the basic element of architecture, telling the divinity of the church.
The new museum of Suzhou Museum has unique features in terms of architectural appearance, color, layout, and use of light. On the premise of satisfying the function of the museum, it integrates the characteristics of Suzhou traditional garden buildings and traditional Chinese houses;
I.M. Pei (Suzhou Museum, 2006)
Volcanoes
The combination of lava, heat, ash, and clouds may create a huge amount of eruptions and make the cloud have a chemical-physical reaction.
Behavioral mapping:
In our research, we found that in most workspaces that allow costumers inside, lighting decisions are made for costumers, not employees in that place. Examples of this are Boots shop, Sainsbury’s Borough Market, and the Coffee shop presented in our research.
In these spaces, there are three different types of purposes for people to go there: recreational, work and/or shopping. Based on these purposes, we realized that spaces which are merely for shopping (e.g. Sainsbury’s, Boots) costumers don’t move around based on the influence of light. They move around based on factors that are not related to light: where to find what I want to buy, for example.
On another hand, on spaces that mix recreational and work purposes(Costa Coffee, Borough Market, Hall Reception) there’s a noticeable choice to sit/stay close to a natural light source, like windows. However, this is only for visitors/costumers, not for workers.
We conducted all of our research during daylight and this made us see that in spaces that are meant to be workplaces only (construction area, library), people prefer to stay or sit close to the natural light sources(windows or crystal walls).
The way we move in different spaces is highly influenced by the purpose of us being there. In the places we did our research on, we found three types of purposes: recreational, work, shopping.
For recreational and workspaces, we found that people are more influenced by light in the decision they make in that space.
People have a preference for sitting/staying close to natural lights.
Lights can create a daylight working environment for workers. More functional for workplaces.
03 physical model and ideation
physical model We created a physical model to represent our research findings and to help us better identify design opportunities. The model also visually links our research back to our project.
Water Room
this idea comes from watching natural light filtering through water. This is something we can find easily in nature. With this design, we tried to create a ‘light in motion’ effect, but instead of using artificial light, we just use water and natural light.
Mirror Room
The second room is called the mirror room. Yayoi Kusama's infinity room was the first idea that came into my mind, simply because I went there last year. When I was inside, I didn't focus on my reflections in the mirrors. What I focused on was the galaxy around me. Mirrors can stretch the vision, that makes you feel like you are in another world.
Another inspiration came from Katie Paterson's Hollow. This installation was placed outdoors, and each piece was made from different kinds of wood with different ages. The hollowed structure allows light to come in and create a forest-like interior.
The major building & Fiber
Based on the aims of our project, we want to use natural light as much as possible, and also, since our water ceiling room and mirror room needs light comes in, then we decide to let the whole architecture made by transparent glasses.
We set up a total of ten rooms in this space, and each room can accommodate 6 to 10 people. We have found the sun would change position during the daytime; if the office always stays in one location, the light change will remain the same forever. Therefore we quoted the idea of sunflower. Each room is controlled by the elevator to ensure that it can get enough sunlight and people inside would see the light change.
(Moreover, when we talked about how they will rotate, we first thought about hanging the room up to the roof within a rotating disc type structure, and each room will turn from the hold. However, that may cost lots of energy and extra work on the construction process. Then we came up with an up and down idea, which let each room has an elevator, they can adjust the height according to the position of the sun. Even if the sun is changing the orbit, the place could lift up and down, so that they could always receive the maximum of natural sunlight.)
How the room would be experienced?
Consider the room as a multipurpose space; it could be a common room, study place, even shopping malls.People could choose whether they want to let the windows adjust automatically or they want to control them manually. Let the room be enclosed or completely open.
By the way, since the windows are mostly flexible, the noise would not be reduced too much. It‘s hard to balance in between because when you want to be close to nature and be open, the environment would be full of complexities.
We had been using artificial lights to create a natural like condition for a long time, but why don’t we change our architecture and living behaviors to adapt to nature? The purpose of the mirror room is to maximize the utility of sunlight and reduce the artificial lights. In the meantime, allow participants to experience the creativity of colors and sunshine.
04
conceptual development
water lamp:
At first, the idea was to use an entire ceiling with water inside to create the effect, but we took a more practical point of view and decided to go for big lamps close to a transparent ceiling instead.
Production:
We knew we had to use a transparent material but to accomplish that we had to use wood to create the mold first and then create the final water lamp.
mirror room:
Idea develops:
Based on those two inspirations, we were thinking about a room which is the polyhedron, walls are covered with mirrors. There would be a hole on the top, the light would be reflected within the room.
Prototype:
experimented with mirror sheets so that they can reflect lights.
By this time, another idea came in, which is colors. Standard mirrors can reflect colors from the sunlight, but only when they are at specific positions. I start to think about how to let people easily see the colors of light with naked eyes.
Later we found a unique material, which is the vinyl sheets. They are mirror sheets as well, but they can change their colors according to angles.
(Showing examples.)
Based on its characteristics, we came out with another prototype, which broke each side into three. When each piece was flipping, the color would slightly change.
final remarks:
The feedback from Fjord was overwhelmingly positive and we are extremely happy to have pitched our design outcomes to them. We offered suggestions based on our research and it felt very real for them to take our ideas seriously.
I am extremely thankful to be part of the Team and have Sia, Erick, and Chun as my team members. The fact that we collaborate well with each other has made the design process much smoother and allowed us to learn from each other’s skills.
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