Stratified glass light wall
The Bar Code project celebrates the vibrant and kaleidoscopic interplay between material and media. Designed by Höweler and Yoon Architecture, Bar Code is a site-specific, computer-controlled installation composed of stacked, backlit, low-iron glass. The CNC-water-jet-cut contour of the back edges produces an interior topography that is visible through the surface and glows when lit from the sides. The curved glass mass acts like a large lens, focusing and dissipating light based on its geometry. The low-iron glass is optically clearer than regular soda-lime float glass and allows for better light transmission and more accurate color rendition.
Höweler and Yoon designed the contoured back surface to form a continuous topography of concave and convex curves. To eliminate material waste, the designers calibrated the curves to use both sides of a single cut. The edge lighting occurs through an array of custom RGB LED elements mounted on a sliding armature. The LED matrix enables the mixing of colors and the individual control of each source. With this precisely controllable lighting array, users can generate a low-resolution image and create a catalog of behaviors based on color, light intensity, and speed. The result is an illuminated screen that utilizes the material depth and light-channeling properties of glass to create volumetric light, as opposed to a conventional surface-based display or direct light source.
Contact: Höweler and Yoon Architecture, LLP, Boston, MA, USA.
For more information, see Transmaterial Next: A Catalog of Materials that Redefine Our Future
