Mood Researching
&
Light Through Digital Collage
described as the key elements of light and darkness.
“Light creates ambience and feel of a place as well as the expression of a structure” Le Corbusier
1. “Ambient Luminescence” - an encompassing glow of light that warms and comforts a space and those who dwell in that space.
Le Corbusier’s chapel of Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp is a unique and archetypal example representing the dynamics of light within architectural design. But what is it about light and dark that creates these impressions of unique and reflective atmospheres? What defines such moods that encompass us when we experience these particular places?
2. “Focal glow” - Light that gives direction to a space, a light that occurs to help you, guide you to the purpose of that space, like a spot light on a stage this light is bright, focused and intense. 3. “Play of brilliance” - Like the skylines of the brightest and largest cities, the infinite array of small shimmering dots decorate the landscape in varying colours and patterns. It is something playful, something interactive and dynamic.
This research method is intended to gain insight into the relationship between the mood and atmosphere of a space and the lighting dynamic that this fundamental phenomena. Three different and varied locations have been selected to be analyses, photographed and formed into a digital collage. They represent the three different types of atmospheres that the lighting designer, Richard Kelly
These 3 methods will be analysed in such a way that will allow the researcher to create a ‘developed surface’ of which will represent the nature of light.
11
12
Li
vi
ng
C
6
om
s:
13
ro
ce
O
e
Lo Ti m c a t N o e ion . o : 7: : H f l 24 om ig P ht M so
ur
A L L
E G
1
14
C
O
Lo Ti m c a t N o e ion . o : 12 : M f l :4 A i g 7 rc ht A s
io ud St :1 h es M u rc o
A L L
E G
2
15
16
C
ity
ur
C
re
30
17
nt
s:
Ce
ce
O
Lo Ti m c a t N o e ion . o : 6: : O f l 54 xf ig P o ht M so
rd
A L L
3 E G
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Phase 4
Phase 5
imagery through digital collage.
The human eye is remarkably adaptable to the varying light conditions that can flood a room or space. This intrinsic evolutionary ability creates a dynamic response to lighting atmospheres that is fluid and never static or dull. However the camera has yet to obtain this unique gift and therefore lacks the ability to capture such a broad spectrum of light and dark. It is this ability, or lack of, that is fundamentally used to create these collages and by doing so allows the collages to show the extreme and over emphasised values of light within a space.
Phase 1: I began by taking photographs of every part of the room and tiling them in such a way that it gave me a full 360-degree view of the space. Phase 2: Through various computer-imaging programs I began to stich the tiles together to form a seamless image of the space. This can be considered a similar technique to the way a two dimensional map represents the curved surface of the world.
The power of a collage lies in its ability to represent a partial and fragmented image of space, seemingly abstract, it does not give the total picture of a space but provides a range of subject matter that only becomes visible in a drawing. (Evans, R. 1997) Although this statement is with reference to the archaic method of representing ‘the developed surface’ it is still an essential definition on what a collage is. However I believe that for this project, various preconceptions of ‘what a collage is’ has to be questioned in pursuit of the research question. It has certainly been my intention to abstract the notion of space but I do not mean to create a partial or fragmented image but rather the image should have the ability to shows the entirety, the encompassing 3 dimensional space as a whole. To do this I took inspiration from M. C. Escher’s “Self Portrait in Spherical Mirror” and chose to represent this warped multi-perspective
Phase 3: By wrapping and stretching the collaged image around its upper most left corner I was able to form a sphere in which all the visual components of the room are visible within one circular piece. Phase 4: To achieve an image that describes the extremes of light and dark within the room I again resorted to imaging software to eliminate the redundant information that would interfere with the research goal. Phase 5: This stage maps the intensity of light throughout the space by creating a form of contour lines that are representative of the light intensity within specific parts of the room. 18
THE DEVELOPED SURFACE Collage 1
Collage 2
As Evans notes in “The Developed Surface” (1997) throughout the late 18th century the term for what a developed surface is went through various stages of redefinition. However, he lacks a conclusive judgment on what the developed surface is in a contemporary context. The modern derivatives of the collage have distanced themselves from these original intentions and instead focus on a conceptual agenda concerned with image as opposed to surface.
Collage 3
the architectural techniques of the day and the research intention. The final Phase of the Collage undertakes this task by extruding the visual light contour into a three dimensional sculptural landscapes where the peaks and troughs are representative of the luminescence within a space. These surfaces, whilst being a distinct object in and of itself also bares a direct relation to the phases that preceded it and finalises the intention to create a new definition in the developed surface.
I believe that to restore and redefine the developed surface to a modern research technique we must reconcile with the historic intentions of the collage and “restore a sense of spatial recession”(Evans, 1997). This spatial recession was clearly present in the numerous shaded sections by architects and artists such as William Chambers and George Bayfield but now we must create a new sense of spatial recession that accommodates 19