Lumen Touch
LIT Lighting Design Awards
2025
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Tensegrity has been a source of joy and curiosity for me ever since I took the Structural Experiments course with my inspiring tutor, Ali Onat Türker, during architecture school in Istanbul. He transformed what might have been a strictly technical subject into a playful and experimental journey. We began by analyzing building structures and constructing bridge models based solely on tensegrity principles. That exploration eventually grew into designing a chandelier—an experience that left a lasting impact on me. Even today, I’m amazed at how much that course planted in me.
In the years that followed, I kept experimenting with tensegrity: sometimes through sketches, sometimes through mock-ups, and sometimes through installations—such as one I created for a school project in a church in Wismar. My latest exploration was the design of an interactive tensegrity luminaire, one that offers aesthetic presence both in daylight and with artificial light. This is how Lumen Touch took shape.
I’m truly honored that Lumen Touch was recognized by the jury of the LIT Lighting Design Awards with an Honorable Mention. It also reminded me how lucky I was this year to be a mentee in the Silhouette Awards program, which allowed us mentees to submit our proposals to the LIT Lighting Design Awards. This recognition was the cherry on top of everything I learned during my mentorship with Sergio Boccia.
In the years that followed, I kept experimenting with tensegrity: sometimes through sketches, sometimes through mock-ups, and sometimes through installations—such as one I created for a school project in a church in Wismar. My latest exploration was the design of an interactive tensegrity luminaire, one that offers aesthetic presence both in daylight and with artificial light. This is how Lumen Touch took shape.
I’m truly honored that Lumen Touch was recognized by the jury of the LIT Lighting Design Awards with an Honorable Mention. It also reminded me how lucky I was this year to be a mentee in the Silhouette Awards program, which allowed us mentees to submit our proposals to the LIT Lighting Design Awards. This recognition was the cherry on top of everything I learned during my mentorship with Sergio Boccia.
Entry Description
Lumen Touch is an interactive decorative luminaire that redefines the way users experience illumination. Rather than switching or dimming the light directly, users influence its behavior through subtle physical interaction: adding weight to the lower hook shifts the structure, expanding the space between two polished metal hemispheres, each containing an internal light source. Reflected uplight and downlight pass through iridescent filters, casting evolving color patterns onto the surrounding environment. Under daylight, the reflective surfaces scatter delicate hues, keeping the piece alive without artificial illumination. Acting as a reflective sculpture by day and an atmospheric luminaire by night, Lumen Touch invites users to explore light through touch and movement—transforming every interaction into a tangible, playful, and poetic experience that blurs the boundaries between product, art, and interaction.
Sustainability Approach
Lumen Touch embraces sustainability through structural efficiency, material integrity, and sensory economy. Its tensegrity system is entirely held by tensioned cords—without adhesives or rigid joints—allowing components to be detached, reused, and recycled, minimizing material waste and simplifying end-of-life separation. Though delicate and precise, the structure ensures long-term durability with minimal components and no wasteful assembly. Efficient LEDs and reflective optics create vivid illumination with very low energy, while iridescent surfaces remain active under daylight, offering a luminous experience without power. Through this balance of precision, restraint, and perceptual richness, Lumen Touch proves that sustainability can be both structural and emotional.
Click here for the project page.
Lumen Touch is an interactive decorative luminaire that redefines the way users experience illumination. Rather than switching or dimming the light directly, users influence its behavior through subtle physical interaction: adding weight to the lower hook shifts the structure, expanding the space between two polished metal hemispheres, each containing an internal light source. Reflected uplight and downlight pass through iridescent filters, casting evolving color patterns onto the surrounding environment. Under daylight, the reflective surfaces scatter delicate hues, keeping the piece alive without artificial illumination. Acting as a reflective sculpture by day and an atmospheric luminaire by night, Lumen Touch invites users to explore light through touch and movement—transforming every interaction into a tangible, playful, and poetic experience that blurs the boundaries between product, art, and interaction.
Sustainability Approach
Lumen Touch embraces sustainability through structural efficiency, material integrity, and sensory economy. Its tensegrity system is entirely held by tensioned cords—without adhesives or rigid joints—allowing components to be detached, reused, and recycled, minimizing material waste and simplifying end-of-life separation. Though delicate and precise, the structure ensures long-term durability with minimal components and no wasteful assembly. Efficient LEDs and reflective optics create vivid illumination with very low energy, while iridescent surfaces remain active under daylight, offering a luminous experience without power. Through this balance of precision, restraint, and perceptual richness, Lumen Touch proves that sustainability can be both structural and emotional.
Click here for the project page.