Imagine viewing an entire country, from an aerial perspective, at night: from brightly lit cities to positively dark countrysides, and of course everything in between. With fog and the logistics of space travel (among other things), viewing space images is potentially as good as it gets. Cool as they may be, you sacrifice the experiential element. David Graas changes that – somewhat. Based on scientific data and space images, he’s created a “light map” of Holland; a slightly abstracted version of what you might see from above.

Holland by Night. Designed by David Graas.

Firstly, the lamp is a map of Holland (topography aside). The outline of the lamp is the outline of the country, made three-dimensional through its extruded form. It consists, as many lights do, of an internal light source and a surrounding lampshade. Where light emission is high in Holland, the lampshade is thinner; where light emission is low, the lampshade is thicker. The result is a pattern of varied light intensities – the image you would see when viewing Holland from space, at night.  The more densely populated areas shine the brightest while areas of low population appear dim.  The Dutch designer has aptly titled this work Holland by Night.

So, how do you produce a plastic lampshade of such precise and irregular (non-uniform) specifications? Rapid Manufacturing techniques in collaboration with TNO (responsible for the scientific end: space imagery, light emissions data, etc) and De Hub (the rapid manufacturing workshop/knowledge) both based in the Netherlands.