LVDB
ICONS pendant installation in a stairwell, view up the void

LVDB — Architectural Light and ObjectS

TX2

The Project

ICONS a suspended lighting installation over 7 stories (30M) high.

TX2 is a lighting installation on Strijp-T, Eindhoven: a modular pendant built from handblown glass elements, fixed at intervals along a pair of slender stainless steel tubes. Installed in the stair void of the building, telling different stories each floor. A diffuse glow from below, a cluster of individual forms up close.

Each glass element is handblown by master glassblower Gert Bullee, shaped in steel moulds referring to the industrial heritage of the area. Giving it the organic surface and the irregular, faceted edges seen in close-up. No two pieces are identical.

Project
TX2, Strijp-T
Material
Handblown glass, stainless steel
Setting
Open stairwell, office building
Design
LVDB, for Interior Elements and GEVA Eindhoven
ICONS pendant seen through an oak-framed glass wall, full run of glass elements descending beside the stair
ICONS — full run, stairwell void 01
Close-up of ICONS glass elements against the black stair railing
Looking down over the stair railing at ICONS glass elements

Every element tells a story of craftsmanship and industrial fabrication.

The Making — Stop Motion

ICONS — glass in the making, stop motion by Niels Hoebers

Master glassblower Gert Bullee shaping molten glass at the furnace
Master glassblower Gert Bullee working a glass element with an open flame

Gert Bullee, master glassblower — photography by Willem-Jan Smulders

ICONS pendant seen through an oak door frame, reflected against the stairwell
Full stairwell with ICONS pendant, seen through a timber-framed glass wall
ICONS pendant seen through a glazed partition, two figures reflected

Materials & Making

Handblown glass

Glass gathered molten from the furnace and shaped in steel moulds by master glassblower Gert Bullee of Nationaal Glasmuseum, giving each piece its own organic surface and irregular, rounded edge.

Stainless steel tubes

A pair of slender tubes carries the full run of glass elements from ceiling to lower landing, kept deliberately fine so the glass reads as the material in the room.

Abstract detail of concrete ceiling and timber-framed glass above the stairwell
The building — concrete and oak 02
Empty concrete floor plate with the oak-framed stairwell glazing beyond
Concrete corridor with services, oak-framed glass box onto the stair
Concrete wall beside the oak-framed glass enclosure of the stair
ICONS pendant seen through glass toward the brick entrance facade
Blue window facade of the neighbouring building, seen through the office glazing
Exterior colonnade of the office building, green steel columns
Exterior colonnade of the office building, close view of green steel columns