Omar Gandhi Architects creates illuminated brick for outdoor and indoor use

Canadian studio Omar Gandhi Architects has created a series of lighting designs, including a brick-shaped light designed to be built into masonry walls.

The architecture studio showcased two lights – the Brick Light and a tube chandelier called 18 Ga – at an installation in Toronto, Canada.

Developed with local metalworks Filo Timo and architectural lighting producer Aaline, the new customisable products are informed by urban environments and utilize common building materials in new ways.

The OG Brick light seamlessly integrates into a masonry wall, blending in during the day and emitting a warm glow at night.

Encased in a metal frame and mesh surface, the light comes in two sizes – a standard dimension brick and a double-width variant. It can be used both indoors and outdoors.

According to the studio, the product is meant to juxtapose architectural metalwork with the simplicity of brick.

"We consider our work to be integral and in symbiosis with the urban fabric," said Omar Gandhi Architects (OGA) principal Omar Gandhi, a 2023 Dezeen Awards judge. "You can't consider materials without considering context."

The 18 Ga lamp incorporates industrial-grade, 18 gauge corrugated metal cladding which is used as a reflector diffusing a polycarbonate-encased LED.

The design is available in clear satin maple and satin black ash but can also be customised as a table lamp.

OGA created an installation called Electric in the double-space gallery post at Mason Studio in Toronto in order to debut both products and place them in a relevant context.

The OG Brick Light was presented in a deliberately incomplete wall of interlaced bricks, the 18 Ga was hung above a bronze table designed by Filo Timo.

Other exhibition elements included a pill-shaped block covered in lichen, also suspended from the ceiling.

"The installation did a good job of showcasing both products in a muted manner, interwoven in both landscape and the urban fabric," said Gandhi.

"It wasn't a gallery-type scenario, but rather a glimpse or a snapshot of a more realistic scenario. The landscape features helped to pull the fixtures back from the foreground to help create a scene."

Gandhi and his team collaborated with Vancouver-based studio Donohoe Living Landscapes for the staging.

"There were many reasons why it was important to include natural materials such as lichen into our design," said Ryan Donohoe, the studio's principal.

"Predominantly, we wanted to integrate organic texture to Omar Gandhi Architects's design that softened the hard elements and created a harmonious balance. Without the natural elements, the space could have felt cold and stark."

Omar Gandhi Architects has developed other furniture and lighting products such as the White Rock Chair and Alder Chandelier.

"For us, it's all about the joy of design and the anxiety of feeling like we're running out of time," said Gandhi.

"We've somehow found ways to explore it both in our projects and as an aside. I also like that these things can feel free and detached from our work; at times connected stylistically, formally, and texturally more than at other times to our architectural work"

Recently, Dezeen rounded up all of the architect-designed furniture that was on show during this year's Milan Design Week.

The photography is by Gwenael Lewis.

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