Category

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Hidden in the lane, revealed in the light

Hidden in the lane, revealed in the light

Category
Daylight investigations - Region 4: Asia and Oceania

Students
Xiangyi He

School
Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture

Country
China

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The design site is selected from Zhoucheng in Dali Prefecture, Yunnan, China. Like other small-scale living lanes around the world, the lanes in Zhoucheng face the same problem of insufficient sunlight on one side of the street. The illumination on the side of the street space is uneven during the day. In addition, the transitional addiction to mobile phone screens makes people lack attention to the top interface of the lane. The design calls for people’s attention to the sky interface. Let daylight illuminate our life instead of mobile phone screens!The prototype is Oil-paper umbrella which is one of the traditional handicrafts of the Han nationality. It originated from a paper or cloth umbrella in China, and has been listed as China’s intangible cultural heritage. In many traditional folk life streets, umbrellas are often hung upside down, which has the function of shading. At the same time, the umbrella rib symbolizes bamboo, which means happiness. Zhoucheng in Yunnan Province in China is known as the “Hometown of Bai Nationality Tie-Dye”. Tie-dyeing is a traditional folk craft of the Bai people in Zhoucheng since the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Tie-dye cloth is made of hand-stitched stitches and repeatedly cold-dyed and dipped. The tie-dye pattern is elegant and intriguing.The device works on the basis of the cloth dyeing process. First, fix the cloth on the periphery of the umbrella and let it hang naturally. Then pour the paint into the reserved umbrella cone space. The pigment slowly penetrates the impregnated cloth, creating a natural pattern. The reflector under the umbrella, together with the umbrella surface and the cloth, forms an effect like a “sunlight box” hidden in the street and presented in the lightThe theme of “Hidden in the lane” refers to the space under the umbrella, which is a hidden space relative to the street space due to the enclosure of tie-dye cloth. When this space is in the shadow area of the street, the shadow area can be illuminated due to the refraction of light by the paint on the umbrella. At the same time, the space under the umbrella has become a place for people to relax and entertain.The theme of “revealed in light” refers to starlight. There is a reflector on the ground that is the same size as the space under the umbrella. When people look down at the screen of their mobile phone, they will notice the scene from the sky reflected by the reflector and enclosed by the umbrella.Compared with the virtual space created by mobile phones, the space of umbrellas emphasizes the important role of starlight in life. The theme of “revealed in light” on the one hand refers to the fact that the top interface of the space enclosed by the umbrella is directly connected to the sky, and sunlight penetrates through the transparent surface of the umbrella. The cloth relatively shields the surrounding environment while emphasizing the importance of the sky interface.