Luminary
Project Type
Furniture/Sculpture
Date
December 2024
Skills
CAD, Sketching, Rendering, Woodworking, Moldmaking, Concrete pouring
An exercise in sculpture, material, and mold pouring, the Luminary project is among the more abstract opportunities presented in the curriculum. With the limitation of only being able to use concrete and one additional sheet material, This luminary intends to explore the obstruction of cast light in 3 ways: unobstructed, obstructed in one axis, and in 2. At 3'x1'x1', this project stands monolithic, with the brutalist ribs adding to the mysterious aura of the body.
Sketches and ideation
The prompt for this assignment was "a floor-standing luminary constructed out of concrete and one sheet material." Rather than primarily using the sheet material and deferring the concrete to a base or support like others, I chose to utilize the concrete as a key feature.
CAD and Refinement
After finalizing a concept, I proceeded to draft it in Rhino. From there, I made several iterations, playing with different dimensions, shapes, and form to elevate the appearance while also considering the tradeoff of construction, weight, and durability.
Construction
The 5 molds used to cast the ribs.
Due to the nature of my design, I only needed 2 different molds: A large rectangular frame, and a smaller rectangular arch. By adding spacers to the smaller mold, I could cast all of the ribs required without needing to construct a mold for each size. Due to the project deadline and additional freezing weather, I constructed as many of the arch molds as I could to make casting as efficient as possible. The molds are made out of melamine board and assembled with pocketholes, with paste finishing wax used as mold release. These two ensure that minimal time is spent dismantling a mold so it can quickly be reused for the next cast.
The very first concrete cast of the project in the main mold. As part of the learning process, this ratio of concrete was off and resulted in a fragile part.
Several of the ribs after fully curing.
The LEDs are suspended in a bag by string to ensure even diffusion through all surfaces.
Final model being assembled.
