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03 / Engineering

The invisible structure.

A design language is only as honest as the system that holds it up. This is the V1 structural thinking behind the collection — written as a set of questions, because that is what it still is.

Concept visualization — not a completed installation

  1. 01

    Structure disappears

    A concealed, interlocking skeleton carries every load. It is indexed, keyed and serviceable — and it is never part of the visible language.

  2. 02

    Surface remains

    The engineered optical carrier is the only thing the eye reads: continuous where geometry allows it, deliberately cellular where it does not.

  3. 03

    Light becomes the artwork

    Rear-projected light meets the surface from inside the form. The projector, its heat and its service access are architectural problems solved behind the skin.

  4. 04

    Honesty is a material

    Developable surfaces can be rolled. Doubly curved surfaces must be formed. Seams are designed or declared, never denied. Nothing is called seamless that is not.

01 / Fabrication routes

Four ways to carry a surface.

Which route a form takes is decided by its geometry, not by preference. A cylinder rolls. A saddle must be formed. A canopy may be cells by design.

  1. A

    Tensioned continuous skin

    A compatible flat-coated carrier, rolled for shipping, captured at the perimeter and tensioned over planar or developable geometries (cylinders, cones, planes). Edge-bead capture, rear splices and tension adjusters never pierce the image area.

    Suits

    Veil Wall · Portal · Tower sleeve

  2. B

    Preformed monolithic optical shell

    Form the compatible compound-curved carrier first; coat afterwards; inspect thickness, adhesion and scattering; mount via concealed peripheral structure. Nested, protected shipping — not presumed flat-pack.

    Suits

    Chalice · Saddle · Helix sections · deeper petals

  3. C

    In-situ continuous coating

    Assemble, level and stabilise the architectural substrate, then qualify field coating across prepared joints — movement, optical discontinuities, orientation and quality control all qualified, not assumed.

    Suits

    Premium architectural installations

  4. D

    Intentional optical cells

    Structurally divided apertures with a designed visible rhythm. Beautiful boundaries are deliberate — and the overall surface is not physically seamless.

    Suits

    Petal Canopy · Spire facets · Chalice arrays

02 / Connector family

L-K1 to L-K6.

Six concealed connection ideas, each with its preliminary envelope and the questions that must be answered before any of it is drawn for fabrication.

  • L-K1 Captured perimeter bead and rail — engineering sketch

    L-K1

    Captured perimeter bead and rail

    Preliminary
    Preliminary 35 × 20 mm external aluminium rail envelope; ≈ 6 mm captured edge bead.
    Open questions
    Bead–substrate compatibility, groove fit, retention force, creep, peel, membrane damage, thermal movement, edge shadow.
  • L-K2 Concealed rear spline — engineering sketch

    L-K2

    Concealed rear spline

    Preliminary
    Preliminary 90 mm keyed spline; ≈ 45 mm engagement per rail end; 6 × 10 mm nominal key; rear-access M4 fasteners.
    Open questions
    Insert material, tolerances, bending/shear, vibration, threaded engagement, repeat assembly, thermal behaviour.

  • L-K3

    Indexed angular geometry nodes

    Preliminary
    Replaceable nodes indexed to each shape; moulded polymer for low-load prototypes or CNC metal where required.
    Open questions
    Node angles, fit, tolerance stack, point loading, mechanical safety.

  • L-K4

    Bayonet ring engagement

    Preliminary
    Bayonet lugs with independent positive secondary retention.
    Open questions
    Load path, accidental-release protection, misuse, torsion, load rating.

  • L-K5

    Rear tension adjustment

    Preliminary
    Concealed rear cam/screw shoe with positive travel stop.
    Open questions
    Allowed edge displacement, repeatability, coating strain limit, wrinkle and sag control.

  • L-K6

    Qualified continuous-coated joint

    Preliminary
    Prepared, conditioned carrier joint coated after architectural assembly — if validated.
    Open questions
    Crack propagation, refractive mismatch, temperature cycling, optical seam scattering.

03 / Geometry notes

Two forms, worked through.

Veil Wall because it is the first prototype; Honeycomb Chalice because its earlier envelope did not survive the arithmetic.

Veil Wall geometry drawing

07 / Veil Wall

  • — Projected chord 2,400 mm × 1,800 mm high; cylindrical plan radius ≈ 3,000 mm.
  • — Sagitta = R − √(R² − 1,200²) ≈ 250.5 mm; arc angle 2·asin(1,200/3,000) ≈ 47.2°.
  • — Developed arc width ≈ 2,469 mm excluding clamps — not a cut dimension; edge encapsulation and allowances follow testing.
  • — A cylinder is developable: a rolled flat-coated carrier curves without the stretching a saddle or bowl would demand.
Open Veil Wall →
Honeycomb Chalice geometry drawing

01 / Honeycomb Chalice

  • — V1 reference: an ideal regular six-sided faceted pyramid derived from six sectors with 300 mm slant edges and 55° flat apices.
  • — Each outer chord 2 × 300 × sin(27.5°) ≈ 277.05 mm → rim ≈ 554.1 mm tip-to-tip; axial depth √(300² − 277.05²) ≈ 115.1 mm.
  • — The earlier Ø530 × 142 mm envelope is inconsistent with this sector geometry and is not used.
  • — Modular cellular arrays: when several bowls form an array, each bowl is its own optical aperture.
Open Honeycomb Chalice →

04 / Prototype P-01

Veil Wall, rolled.

The proposed first large-format demonstrator. A plan — not a completed installation.

  1. 01

    Roll a flat-coated carrier onto a cylindrical plan of R ≈ 3,000 mm; chord 2,400 mm, height 1,800 mm.

  2. 02

    Curved top and bottom guides, two vertical edge rails, hidden keyed splices (L-K2), bead capture at the perimeter (L-K1).

  3. 03

    Rear adjustable frame to hold the arc against twist; tension adjusters (L-K5) with positive travel stops.

  4. 04

    Measure edge-to-edge brightness and sharpness under a controlled projector — publish what is measured, nothing else.

05 / Still required

What this page does not claim.

Every item below is engineering work that has not been done. Listing it is the point.

  • Structural load paths, tipping and anchorage for every freestanding form
  • Suspended-installation primary support and independent secondary restraint (Petal Canopy)
  • Electrical routing, projector containment, heat rejection and service access
  • Projector geometry and self-occlusion studies for 360° forms (Tower, Spire, Helix)
  • Coating behaviour on curved substrates: thickness, orientation, strain and scatter (Gate 0)
  • Fire, ingress and public-safety codes per jurisdiction

Preliminary design envelopes only. No verified photometric data, no load ratings, no code compliance and no production specification exist for any LUMEN form. If you are an engineer or fabricator who wants to argue with any of this, that is exactly the conversation we want.

Start the material conversation →