What is the picture above an example of? how was this piece, and others similar, made?

The lighting is encased within a very unusual encasing. By the looks of it, it is custom made and crafted to have it's unusual shape. The unusual shape may be made by stained glass, or colored glass. Stained glass is usually created using fiber and silica. Because of the thickness, most of it absorbs the light (as we can see that not the whole shape is lightened up, as well as how the light does not show up inside the house), as well as reflect them (as parts of the color is not dark enough to absorb). While this shape is unusual, and is not very useful, it still does the job it is suppose to do, dim the light.

hope this helps

cad, or computer-aided design and drafting (cadd), is a software for design and technical documentation, which is an automated process as opposed to the manual drawing of plans. this gives a person an advance in making plans as an architect in a short period of time. one who can render plans through this software will gain a skill that is better than one who makes plans manually. this is a skill some companies look for in an employee.