Tuesday, March 30, 2010

University of Iowa

Our install team has just returned from site after building these Light Shelves at the new University of Iowa Hygienics Laboratory. We built 22 shades, creating a play of light and providing some shade and cool relief from the sunlight passing through tall windows.



In order to produce a consistent geometry in each shade, we introduced a fixed length rope boundary concealed in the edge binding. During our prototype phase we discovered that the grommet point did not allow the rope to move as freely as we would want and we overcame this with the help of our 3-D printer! We designed and "printed" a unique custom fitting to be placed between the grommet sections that allows the rope to rotate easily around the point and find it's final location once installed. This prototype phase of the project allowed us to look closely and to re-think fabric construction and installation methods, giving the final product a solidly designed aesthetic.


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