‘Flow’ is a bamboo-made, self maintaining public lighting which operates on the principle of vertical wind turbine. The whole lamp disintegrates in nature excpet for the electronics – LEDs, wires and dynamo – which after time can be recycled without downcycling. Due to the simple junctions and mechanics, it can also be produced by the local unskilled workforce.
The light sources situated at the ends of the windblades can form continous lighting surface or slow, waving movements and play of light, depending on the speed of the rotation. Due to its spiral form, the lamp can hold the wind from every direction.
The reason of this lamp – Solving local problem with local resources
The object was mainly designed for the Colombian coasts. I am Colombian as well and I was inspired by a problem that I experienced in Cartagena – a coast-wise city in Colombia. The coast-side of the city is busy and safe by day, but in the night it is abandoned and dangerous due to the lack of public lighting, as the grid cannot be transmitted to the shores.
The wind dominating the shores in the whole year is an ideal resource for the lighting. Bamboo is one of the easiest to find and cheapest to produce raw material in Colombia and its utilization is not „eco-harmful” even at small and medium serial number products.
The windblades come to existence by cutting the bamboos into halves. The ends of the bamboos are cut angularly so the lamp lights downwards to the passer-bys and its motion can be seen from afar.
It was a socially important aspect that the lamp can be produced by the locals, thus it can integrate to the area’s cultural and economic rhythm. Hence I designed the buildup in the easiest way. This product can be assembled by the locals themselves, practically only an instruction guide has to be attached. During the development of the lamp my aim was the materialization of bamboo and to fit the object into the local culture’s forms.
After the design process I realized that there are lot of countries with similar problems. In the countries of the Third World the lack of public lighting is a common problem. The reason behind is that in these places the building of an electric network is too expensive or not even possible and there is not enough resource at hand: not enough raw materials, money and skilled workforce for the production. There is a need of lighting which is cheap, can be installed at places which cannot reach the network and can be easily produced with local resources. At these places the cheapest and highest in quantity raw material is bamboo, while the cheapest utility energy is wind energy.
Bamboo spread around the world
Credits:
MOME project,
Designer: Alberto Vasquez
Design consultant: Balazs Püspök
Engeneering consultant: Daniel Lőrincz
Photographer: Balazs Mate
Related entries:
Koizumi web best design award winner
Making of the Flow lamp
Tags: bamboo, koizumi, lighting, public, space, turbine, vertical, wind
March 15, 2010 at 11:02 pm |
This is a wonderful idea. Do you have plans on making these soon. They will sell quickly in USA. Nice to see one in my garden.
March 17, 2010 at 12:12 am |
[...] ‘Flow’ light offers a self-sustaining public lighting solution that is based on the principle of vertical wind [...]
March 17, 2010 at 2:37 am |
Congratulations on this original idea, read about it on Inhabitat.com. We would be happy to supply our line of LED lights for testing purposes, for free.
March 17, 2010 at 1:45 pm |
Hi, guys really interesting project, I wanted to ask you, was Colombia chosen because of anything or just as a mere coincidence? or do you have some presence in the country?
The proposal is interesting, the material local, not from the coastal regions, probably at least 12 hours on a car ride at least, but quite cheap material as it grows quite fast. When you talk about production will it be made for Colombia as well?
Also, beaches have very good windy conditions, Can this model be applied up to how slow wind blowing conditions? I mean can it be used somewhere other than the beach?
March 17, 2010 at 7:13 pm |
These lights look like a great idea. Please let me know when you can ship to Canada. Could I become a distributor for Canada? Will they come in different heights and sizes. Please send contact info.
thank you
Ross
March 18, 2010 at 4:27 pm |
[...] VAI AL SITO » Condividi e Diffondi: [...]
March 18, 2010 at 8:35 pm |
I would like to look into the amazing product! How much does it cost?
March 19, 2010 at 9:54 am |
Excelente idea, esperamos verla pronto en las ciudades
March 20, 2010 at 12:58 pm |
[...] Love good design. Genius outdoor lights. [...]
March 21, 2010 at 5:14 am |
[...] places, especially sea shores where sourcing grid electricity is not that easy. Designers over at Igendesign have come up with a sustainable solution in the form of a biodegradable light that harvests wind [...]
March 21, 2010 at 7:16 pm |
[...] notcot.org og igendesign Tags: Arkitektur, Design, Lys HVAD NU? Skriv en kommentar eller trackback: Trackback [...]
March 21, 2010 at 11:35 pm |
[...] functional and aesthetically beautiful wind turbine lights are constructed from bamboo and emit light via a series of [...]
March 22, 2010 at 12:32 am |
Do you have any contacts in Canada? Bamboo thrives here when planted, although not indigenous. We have coastlines on 3 sides of our country, and I also see applications for mountainous areas. Wishing you continued success.
March 22, 2010 at 12:41 am |
[...] wind = light By Rendell http://igendesign.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/igenworks-flow-public-light-for-the-third-world/ [...]
March 22, 2010 at 7:24 am |
Sorry for being skeptical here:
How do you fit bearings in bamboo and keep them from losening?
What is the output of your turbine? By the look of it there is no way you get enough wattage for even weak street lights.
I don’t see any wires in the cut in half tubes, how do you convey electricity to the LEDs?
Why can’t the grid be transmitted to the shores in South America?
March 22, 2010 at 6:52 pm |
[...] wind-driven light March 22, 2010 — Richard Gayle Flow Lamp[Via Social Design Notes] Flow Lamp. A self-powered lamp post for illuminating public spaces in developing countries, this bamboo wind [...]
March 24, 2010 at 8:05 am |
Very good and natural design.
March 25, 2010 at 10:37 am |
[...] der wirklich tolle optische Effekt dazu, der entsteht, wenn die Leuchte in Bewegung ist.Link > Flow Noch mehrLicht aus der KonserveTonerkartuschen mit LichtPostfossil – Mechanisches LichtLightbrick [...]
March 26, 2010 at 10:27 pm |
[...] Igendesign Sponsored [...]
April 8, 2010 at 12:51 am |
This lighting is really amazing, I wish it was used here in Austin.
April 8, 2010 at 2:53 am |
that is an excellent idea, how will it be backed up? what wind speed is required to generate enough watts? what happens if wind is too strong? how isit backed up? battery? mains electricity?
April 15, 2010 at 10:52 pm |
I’m an industrial designer and I’m currently doing my master of design in New Zealand and i would like to use this product/service as one of my case studies and i would really appreciate if you cold contact me through my e-mail. It is a great idea, and it fits perfectly on my subject.
Thank you very much, hope to hear from you soon.
April 23, 2010 at 7:05 am |
yjuni
May 7, 2010 at 4:09 am |
HOLA, WE ARE A SMALL ISLAND IN PALAWAN, PHILIPPINES BEING BUILD BY ARTIST……I AM VERY INTERESTED IN TALKING WITH YOU!!!!!! PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE http://WWW.MANGENGUEY.COM….AND WRITE ME BACK!!!!!
HELENA OF MANGENGUEY
May 17, 2010 at 2:08 pm |
am interestedto learn more
we are an investor in “hightech solutions for low tech industries”
yoav
May 20, 2010 at 11:22 am |
Thank you for posting. I really love the show
May 20, 2010 at 7:02 pm |
[...] I really like this idea of hyper-localized power generation. Use the power available on-site to serve a local purpose. A very elegant concept. [...]
May 28, 2010 at 6:13 am |
What did you uses for your dynamo?
August 19, 2010 at 1:58 am |
[...] The light sources situated at the ends of the windblades can form continous lighting surface or slow, waving movements and play of light, depending on the speed of the rotation. Due to its spiral form, the lamp can hold the wind from every direction. -taken from igendesigns [...]
October 14, 2010 at 2:58 pm |
Hi, I’m an architect from Ecuador, I’m really interested in your work.
I’m working for the Quito’s Goverment, and we are making a project for a place very important in the City, called “el Panecillo”, is an a small mountain were we have an sculpture of a “Virgen de Legarda”; the Project is about of a “Park for the Air”, “el Parque del Aire”, and I want to involve in it, an ecologic, and new ideas, like yours.
Please contact me.
December 20, 2010 at 9:11 am |
[...] Rüzgar enerjisi ile çalışan şık bir aydınlatma. Rüzgar ile dönebilecek şekilde dizilmiş bambular içerideki dinamoyu dönderiyor. Elde edilen elektrikte küçük ledleri aydınlatıyor. Böylece ayrı bir elektrik hatına gerek kalmadan ekonomik bir aydınlatma yapılıyor. Dönme hareketi sayesinde yanan ledler ürünün etrafını saran bir ışık çemberi gibi gözüküyor. Bu da güzelliğini arttırıyor. Aşağıdaki videodan yapılışı hakkında biligi edinebilirsiniz. http://igendesign.wordpress.com [...]
January 24, 2011 at 5:19 pm |
~– I am really thankful to this topic because it really gives great information `;`
February 19, 2011 at 11:13 pm |
[...] Self maintaining public lighting which operates on the principle of vertical wind turbine. via Coroflot and igendesign [...]
March 9, 2011 at 6:11 pm |
Muy buena idea pero ¿cuanto cuesta la implantación?
January 25, 2012 at 1:06 pm |
[...] progetto è infatti di Alberto Vasquez, un designer di Igendesign, il quale vive e lavora in colombia. L’idea gli è venuta pensando al lungomare di [...]