Salone del Mobile.Milan and Milan Design Week present the chance for Milan locals and visitors to discover and take part in many forms of design – but one of the week’s most memorable traditions is its penchant for immersive, experiential design.
Salone focuses on furniture and interiors, but all across the city of Milan, designers, architects and artists of all kinds have created things and places and experiences that bring a richness to the Salone experience.
The intentions behind these creations are as diverse as the contents of them.
For Daikin, a manufacturer of air conditioners, design firm nendo transformed space into experience. From a head office in Tokyo and a second office right in Milan, nendo’s work is wildly diverse, from interiors and experiential design, to graphics and product design of all sorts.
Daikin specializes in climate control solutions for many different spaces and environments. The brand has a particular expertise in air quality,
In an immersive installation open to the public, nendo took that focus on air quality and created an environment which revolves round the experience and sensation of “invisible air”.
In addition to the walk-through installation, nendo has developed a film capturing the experience. Follow the links below to view the short films:
BREEZE OF LIGHT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=83&v=iuHjburMx4U
BREEZE OF LIGHT – Description
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=7&v=JT7SE6e8BaQ
Breeze of Light, designed by nendo for Daikin
“When a spotlight is layered with a polarizing filter and projected on to another flower-shaped polarizing film, the light passes through two layers of filters which makes the flower’s shadow darker than expected. Pivoting the filter 45 degrees creates a more translucent shadow, and by rotating it an additional 45 degrees, the shadow completely disappears.
In order to create a spatial experience using this principle, 115 polarized spotlights with individually-controlled motors were suspended from the ceiling. On the floor, 17,000 flower-shaped polarizing films were spread in calculated patterns. Each flower was placed in a different height so the entire space appears as a smooth and wavy landscape, as if it was a real garden of flowers.
The movement of the polarizing films on the spotlights allows constant change in the intensity of the flower’s shadows, even though there is no change in the amount of light in the space. And although there is no air blowing in the room, the shadows appear to be affected by a gentle breeze passing through the garden.
By focusing on an invisible subject, the installation offers a unique opportunity to experience with our eyes what we can only feel in real life.”
