Architectural Caustics — Controlling Light with Geometry

Caustics are captivating light patterns created by materials bundling or diverting light by refraction or reflection. We know caustics as random side effects, appearing, for example, at the bottom of a swimming pool. In this paper we show that it is possible to control caustic patterns to form almost any desired shape by optimizing the geometry of the reflective or refractive surface generating the caustic. We demonstrate how this surprising result offers a new perspective on light control and the use of caustics as an inspiring architectural design element. Several produced prototypes illustrate that physical realizations of such optimized geometry are feasible.


BibTeX Entry:

@inproceedings{eigensatz_12_AC,
author = "Thomas Kiser and Michael Eigensatz and Minh Man Nguyen
          and Phillipe Bompas and Mark Pauly",
title = "Architectural Caustics — Controlling Light with Geometry",
booktitle = "Advances in Architectural Geometry",
year = "2012",
}

Architectural Caustics — Controlling Light with Geometry

Linked article:
Architectural Caustics

Publisher Page:
Advances in Architectural Geometry 2012

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