(June 2008) It’s not as easy as it might seem to make stone glow. A clever alternative was recently developed by the german company licht raum stadt situated in Wuppertal. Designers took a natural stone cube, cut it into slices, and alternated the slices with mineral-glass plates. The construction creates an optical illusion by day: since the inner section is mirror-coated, the block seems to float, lifted up by sunlight. A lightbulb is mounted in the middle, making the cube glow as darkness sets in.
The outdoor-lighting named Kubus is available in two sizes: 450 x 450 x 450 mm and 200 x 200 x 200 mm respectively. Custom-sizes are also available on request. The plates are made of mineral-glass alternating with metal, cast-stone or natural stone. Most frequently granite, sandstone or gray wacke are employed, but other types of stone are also available.
Many of these lightings were already installed e.g. in Heidelberg’s Synagog-Place or in Berlin’s Reichstag. Two cubes can also be combined with a wooden bench stratteling them for lighted seating.
