Transience of Light is an ‘optical light installation’ that was designed for the front window of Euroluce showroom, Melbourne, by RMIT Interior Design students as part of the State of Design Festival 2011.

The design is situated in an eight metre long prominent floor to ceiling glass display window shopfront that faces the steeply sloping and busy thoroughfare of Russell Street. Through the precise arrangement of a field shimmering of reflective strips, the piece seems to shift and change as one moves past the window, spelling out ‘Euroluce’ as a subtle visual illusion. The designs vertical strips are divided into intervals that correspond to the Fibonacci series which are then progressively offset horizontally to create a complex pattern. These patterns are then layered behind one another to create a compelling visual effect between the superimposed graphic strips. The piece is designed to entice pedestrians and commuters to engage in the perception of a dynamic, flickering and spiralling vision as they move past the window.

The work is considered as a sensorial constellation whose essence is its ever changing ephemeral qualities. The window façade display and the showrooms lighting collection will be carefully curated and illuminated so as to work in a delicate harmony in both the interior and exterior and during the day and night.
The design responds to the festivals themes of the use of transitional spaces and ideas of the transformative, the active and the activating and exposes how design can affect us mentally and physically.

The aesthetic of dematerialisation is one of the abiding conditions that define the sensory experiences of the contemporary city. In the last hundred years the imposing stone solidity of nineteenth century construction has been replaced by the structural expression, minimalist detailing and transparent and translucent skin of contemporary architecture. This phenomena can been seen most clearly in the refractions, reflections and plays of light mirrored in the plate glass windows of retail stores and the curtain walls of the modern skyscraper. This project addresses this transient materiality of the urban realm and seeks to focus and amplify the perceptual potentials that lie within the immaterial nature of the urban façade. In traversing the relationship between light and materiality the work involves the manipulation of both physical effects and psychological affects. This approach marks a move away from the conception of design as the arrangement objects in space to one where the manifestation of fields of phenomena is used to engulf the viewer in perceptual delight.

Ross McLeod,  Senior Lecturer Interior Design, Research Director Furniture Laboratory
RMIT School of Architecture and Design

WEBSITE :

http://transienceoflight.wordpress.com
http://www.rossmcleod.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/RMIT-Interior-Design/136537493059750