Or, dispensing with the floor part:

The source would be 2′ long T5 fluorescents.  Same perf metal material as before, although I upped the perforation size as I’m not going for a fluid organic effect here.

The lamps could possibly be supported by some kind of tensegrity scheme, which would hopefully reduce the number of wires I need to run to the top.  The screen in this case would be simpler, I could probably get away with just riveting it to close it.

Mainly, it becomes a ballast problem.  It would have to dim, and dimmable T5 fluorescent ballasts are outrageously expensive.  Also, off the top of my head no one makes a 3-lamp ballast for 2′ T5s, so I’d be looking at 2 ballasts, or about $2-300 just on ballasts.

there are some parts that would be difficult to source, such as the 3-way support rod and the lamp sockets, but for the most part this is the simplest to construct.

Hmmm.  I’m going to watch House now and drink some beer, and let this one sit for a few days.