Orproject’s most recent project, which was awarded the A-Design Gold for 2018, is a sculptural art installation that investigates the medium of light as a material. This installation incorporates natural components with computer-aided design. The architecture and design firm Orproject, which has offices in London, Beijing, and New Delhi, has always been on the cusp of investigating cutting-edge advanced geometries in order to provide a high-end aesthetic that also promotes environmental sustainability. The most recent private commission that they have received is a sculptural tree that was created for a home garden in Dusseldorf, Germany, that is over two hundred years old. This tree is a modern intervention that mimics its natural counterparts, and it has the potential to start many conversations about life and the evolving philosophies that comprise it. Using the analogy of the process of photosynthesis in plants, where plants grow towards the source of light and the veins in their leaves supply every cell with nutrients – a process that results in overall growth of the plants; the architects develop a tree-trunk-like installation with a stainless-steel surface, set onto which are side-glowing fiber-optic cables that appear like the veins of Ivy on a tree. Via the use of computer algorithms, the design is produced in order to express their architectural approach to ecological design through the medium of a visual story. This technique involves playing on the slight of eye in an exciting game of perceptions. It achieves its angular shape by using a layer of stainless steel that is 3 millimeters thick and has been bent and cut by a CNC machine. This layer wraps around bent rings. Fiber-optic cables are attached to the tree-like sculptural shape by means of a discrete process that involves threading thin cables through the minuscule perforations that are located on the surface. Not only does precision highlight the geometry, but it also highlights the execution. Consequently, we have a tree that is self-supporting, hollow, made of metal, changes color, weighs around 800 kilograms, and glows in the dark! Putting a name to it In order to create the art of photoptosis, which is a stylized combination of photosynthesis and fiber-optics, the process of constructing the art entailed first applying the algorithm to the structure made of stainless steel, and then duplicating it by including fiber-optic cables. According to Rajat Sodhi, the Delhi Partner of the company, who spent three weeks installing it on site, “the development of the tree was computed in a non-Euclidean, distorted space.” This was done so that the complex branching would seem to be mostly on the front of the tree. During the day, the lighting system is nearly undetectable, and the tree made of stainless steel serves as a striking focal point. Nevertheless, as soon as daylight arrives, the shining veins begin to gradually emerge. This continues until the tree completely vanishes into the darkness of night, leaving just the vein structure standing in the yard where it looks to be from another universe. Explore the images that can be found on IndiaArtnDesign.
Author
jackemails@gmail.com