strata
lamp protoype
The strata lamp was developed prior to and during the J-Term course “Offcuts” at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, co-taught by Marya Kanakis and Coco Tin. The lamp is constructed using a consistent ring-shape cut from off-cuts from architectural practices and schools. A personal audit of past cut files found that just under 50% of the material used to cut 2D shapes for modelmaking was left over and scrapped. Collectively, this represents a massive waste. A series of these ring shapes are drawn over the existing cut files. In some cases, they are unaltered, in other cases they intersect the existing cut geometry to produce unexpected gaps and edges. In some cases, the ring is broken, a c-shape is created - a gap through which light might slip. The rings are stacked upon one another with a light placed at the vacant interior. Most light is directed down, but some escapes through the sides. A sort of core sample, with a level of controlled unpredictability. Possible in many materials and configurations.