Atm Sphere, 2019

The Atm Sphere study explores optical systems in which a spherical shell appears to glow, yet no light is visibly present. Rather, a light source located at the very center of the sphere is only able to illuminate it indirectly – through double reflection – in a configuration of triangular panels. The particular geometry of the panels enables the reflection paths such that the light source can never be observed directly, and the spherical shell appears to be uniformly luminous. In each triangular element, light is able to reflect twice before reaching the outer surface. The geometry enforces the following strict constraint: there is no line of sight from the center of the sphere that can pass through the shell without being reflected at least two times. The angles of the panels, the properties of the reflective surface, and the spacing between the panels determine the conditions under which the glowing shell effect can be produced. Physical models are currently being tested to establish whether the geometries computed actually produce the predicted luminous behavior. The investigation is still ongoing.