designers light up concrete blocks on the beaches of san diego
aiming at incorporating some warmth into the cold raw material, the piece is inspired by the cold urban concrete forest in our cities and the warm natural light shower from the sun during the daytime.
prefer designboom on google‘conQrete light’ is a lighting fixture of california-based designers zhuoxin fang and qianqian xu’s series and the first prototype of their ‘conQrete light-city’ series. aiming at incorporating some warmth into the cold raw material, the piece is inspired by the cold urban concrete forest in our cities and the warm natural light shower from the sun during the daytime.
on coronado beach during sunset
concrete exists with a sense of coldness while light always brings warmness, both mentally and physically. the contrast between the cold and warm is essential to this design. after several tests of materials, the designers found optical fiber, which is a thin translucent flexible fiber with a glass core through which light can be transported with very little loss of strength. what is great about this material is that the light transportation function inside the fiber will not be affected when surrounded by concrete.
the fiber is only seen when the lights are on
to make the concrete more special, the designers added sand from san diego into the mix — within 30 miles of the coastline, there are three different colors of sand on the beaches: white, yellow and black. as a result, there are three natural color hues for the concrete finish.
before sunset with lights on
‘when we light up the conQrete lights on the beaches after sunset, the light pattern on the surface is both subtle and strong, which is embraced by the beach and ocean, giving a profound power into the eyes and mind through the light,’ say the designers.
before sunset with lights off
lighting pattern on the concrete surface
creating lighting patterns on the surface of concrete architecture or monument
the pattern variations
different combinations as furniture and artworks
concrete details with local marks
the unique concrete mix for the light
the process of inserting optical fiber into the concrete light
three types of sand from san diego beaches
product info:
name: conQrete lights
design: zhuoxin fang and qianqian xu
designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.
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