Furnishing Utopia

2022

“To the Shakers, light was everything

—fuel to the body, mind, and spirit.”

Sarah Margolis-Pineo

Light provided the Shakers with structure to each day, gave life to their crops, and represented a divine connection between earth and worlds beyond.

Transient Light uses existing public infrastructure—urban bus stops—to create daily moments of shared reflection and wonder. Adding custom prisms and lenses to a bus stop, we reframe and re-imagine a familiar space. Daily commutes are often routine—the same bus at the same time. As seasons change and weather patterns shift, the light and experience inside the bus stop will shift and change as well.

Bus stops are places of refuge from weather, and this one will change with the weather, creating new sensory experiences from within. The light, bent and borrowed, encourages presence and appreciation, a shared moment for those waiting and for those walking by. It transforms a familiar, unremarkable space into something unexpected and ethereal in the way stained glass generates awe by filtering and diffusing sunlight.

This design can be replicated in NYC and other cities.