Week 1 - Initial Project Ideation & Parametric Modeling
Glowmorph
A living, shape-shifting lamp that inflates or retracts in response to its surroundings—shy, playful, or musical—blurring the line between object and organism.
This project explores light as a living, responsive presence rather than a static fixture. The lamp will be constructed as an inflated or tensile membrane that can transform its geometry through air pressure or mechanical actuation. I am thinking using latex, nylon, or another stretchable skin. Its form is not fixed, but mutable: it expands, contracts, and reshapes itself in dialogue with external stimuli such as the day-night cycle, the presence of people, sound, or proximity. By linking light with responsive motion, the lamp becomes a performer, alternately shy or expressive, retreating when approached or dancing to music. I like how this can explore the tension between attraction and withdrawal, desire and distance, presence and absence. At once organic and technological, the lamp blurs the boundary between inert object and animated being, suggesting a new kind of domestic companion: one that glows, breathes, and responds to its environment in unexpected ways.
I'm currently form-finding in Rhino3D but also trying to learn Kangaroo in Grasshopper in Rhino. Trying studies between Inflated polyhedral membranes, tensile minimal surfaces, or biomorphic pneumatics. One inspiration would be the soap-film experiments of Frei Otto, Inflatable architecture of the 1960s, biological morphology of haeckel, etc.
I wanted to relate the base form of Glowmorph to a geometrical simple form that would be beneficial in many ways. First, I think aesthetically having a simple form and growing complexity from its manipulation is more beautiful than starting with complexity itself. Second, working with repetition helps a ton with fabrication. Angles are repeated, joints are symmetrical, etc. So I started with an icosahedron and starting manipulating a form based on what compressive internal structure could achieve.
Once I figured out a form I liked, I brought it into the next stage of modeling refinement, which includes modeling with history so that I can edit the base design should I need to make adjustments.
Once I figured out more or less the form, I could think about what programming the Glowmorph might have. I really like this idea of having a "Shy Lamp" that twists and contorts itself until someone might come near. Also, I like the idea of running programming to have it flex in interesting ways that being symmetrical cant allow. In addition, I have an idea that maybe the Glowmorph follows people around the room, etc. I'm not entirely sure just yet. On the left most image is the "rest state" whereas two images on the right reflect different distortions. I want to next animate the form and get new ideas of what its behavior could be!
Takeaways & Shout Out
- Takeaways: Iterative form-finding is essential: starting with a simple geometric base and exploring deformations allows for a balance between aesthetic beauty, fabrication feasibility, and responsive behavior.
- Takeaways: Learning parametric tools like Grasshopper and Kangaroo early gives flexibility to test behaviors, morphologies, and responsive dynamics before committing to fabrication.
- Shout Out: Shout out to Frei Otto and the pioneers of tensile and inflatable structures for inspiration, as well as the Rhino/Grasshopper community for uploading their scripts so I can test them out and learn!