An architectural lighting concept by Fold Oslo reinterprets structure and shadow

Fold Oslo’s lighting design known as Struktur does an interesting thing, it inverts the role of light – it lets light to expose the structural logic instead of hiding it. The whole composition is made up of bent oak and paper stacked in layers to form a fragile structure. Lights are set in a way that shadows intermingle with the artwork and give more clarity to the internal geometry. It is an architectural study in transparency and structure that is made possible through this method.

Material Strategy

The sculpture emitting light is made from natural materials: oak and kalkepapir. The steam-bent oak gives a cozy structural support and the paper that is translucent spreads the light in a soft way. With this material Fold Oslo proves that it is possible to have both transparency of structure and refinement of ambient qualities coming from materials.

Spatial Experience

The structure, when illuminated, throws very intricate shadow patterns that point out the skeletal geometry. It opens up a way for the viewers to think about how light reveals the straight and curved lines that are the basis of the form. Unlike most lighting designers who prefer to hide the support, this one takes it out into the open. In the end, we have a lighting fixture that not only lights up the space but also becomes a sculpture.

Architectural Significance

From a wider architectural vision lighting designer Fold Oslo’s work Struktur brings new understanding to the lighting debate as form and not an ornament. It provides an example of how light, construction, and space can be spoken in one language. This perception has an impact on the architectural research concern of material efficiency, transparency, and spatial definition.

Lessons for Designers and Architects

• Light can be more than just an illumination; it can define the structure too.
• Wood and paper which are natural materials can not only create the positive but the negative as well by shaping the form.
• The exposed structure and the shadows can be used to make the space more legible.
• Through the small scale lighting design one can have an insight into the big directed architectural ideas.
• Working with light means to consider the interrelationship of form , material , and the perception.

✦ ArchUp Editorial Insight

In the following discourse, Fold Oslo introduces Struktur as a case study wherein light embraces structural logic. The visuals reveal the cooperation of steam-bent oak and translucent paper in making the internal geometry visible through light and shadow. This particular idea is successful in showing the clarity of materials but the article says little about the possible wider architectural use of and the limited spatial contexts of such experiments. Nevertheless, the aspects of structure, transparency and perceptual depth that characterize the project provide a meaningful reference point for designers who work at the junction of light, form and material expression.

Conclusion

The Fold Oslo’s Struktur concept is an illustration of the fact that architectural lighting can play a role not only as functional or decorative but also as a structural element that maps out its geometry through the shadows it casts. Such collaborations between design and architecture, albeit in a very different manner, have given birth to new ways of thinking about light, material, and structure, the most common one being the reference point for future explorations of light, material, and structure.

The photography is by Kathrine Hovind.

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