LIGHT AND HANDRAIL

2022 FALL Elective Course

Instructor: Dwayne Oyler

Partner: Yiyu Zhou, Amin Marandi

As the site of our project, Casa Barragan uses flat planes and light, both natural and artificial as its most prominent aspects of the design. The skylights and windows allow for visual tracking of light throughout the day.

Upon entering, the visitor walks down a dark hallway until they suddenly encounter a pink wall, the first engagement with the known style of Barragan. The concrete texture of the wall gives the room a solid feeling and shows the contrast between the natural light and shadow. The handrail is not originally designed in this room to preserve the concept of visual tracking of light and consistency.

To not ruin the atmosphere of this room, the safety of the people who live in this house was sacrificed. We wanted to ensure the safety of the users in the space while maintaining the original atmosphere and transparency of the space. We want to design a lightweight handrail or staircase.

Poetic Detail

This handrail is developed in detail by the experience of holding it in the hand. The handrail, as a container of light, is composed of three materials: resin, metal and wood, exploring the interaction between material properties, time and light. The handrail is made of a curved metal plate as the main structure. The transparent texture of the resin introduces light into the handrail, allowing it to travel between the wall and the handrail. When placing the hand on the handrail, one can feel the interplay of natural light, light refracted by the resin, and light reflected by the metal on the back of the hand at different times.