This laminate panel wears a dull gray until darkness falls. Then turn it on, and the sheet transforms, emitting an eerie bluish glow. The fixture is one in a collection of organic, luminescent works featured in Bugs, Fish, Floors, and Ceilings, a book edited by architect and Harvard professor Sheila Kennedy and just out from the university's press. The volume documents Kennedy's collaboration with advanced design students and lamp manufacturer Osram Sylvania. The Harvard team incorporated electroluminescent films and phosphors into building materials. (Both substances emit short-wavelength light when stimulated by low levels of electricity and sunlight, respectively.) The result? Radiating glass tiles, shimmering cement pavers, and wall lamps that are wallpaper thin. Requiring low or no power, the materials can replace more expensive systems in environments such as movie theaters, where a cool-glowing ceiling would provide adequate illumination.
Says Kennedy, "I work with the Duchampian idea of taking ordinary materials and making them extraordinary."
ELECTRIC WORD
New Blue Chip
Design Eenterprise
Long-Term Memory
Inner Light
The Cyberspace Agency
Pac-Rat
