Architecture in Light. Volume 1, Issue 4 | Harrison Gale | 2018
Table of Contents
Place
Site Analysis Access, Movement, Use Pattern Scale / Shade and Shadow Luminosity
Idea
1-2 3-4 5-6 7-8
Ideation One Ideation Two Ideation Three Reflection
9-10 11-12 13-14 15-16
Form
Final Design Realisation Approach & Access Light
Material
17-18 19-20 21-22 23-24
Interiorisation Construction Opacity Filtration
25-26 27-28 29-30 31-32
0
Site Analysis
1
2
Access, Movement, Use Pattern
The site is accessible from the pathway crossing in front of the Barr Smith Library, through the middle of the Braggs and Ingkarni Wardli buildings, as well as from the end of the Engineering and Science buildings on the right, directly off Frome road.
3
Movement through the site is most common on the pathways that follow the sides of the buildings, and on the tables and benches that line these pathways. The lawn spaces between are used during the summer and occasionally for events, though they are uncommonly used during the winter.
4
Scale
The Vitruvian Man which is translated to “The proportions of the human body according to Vitruvius�. The drawing is based on the correlations of ideal human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise De architectura. Vitruvius described the human figure as being the principal source of proportion among the classical orders of architecture. Vitruvius determined that the ideal body should be eight heads high. Leonardo’s drawing is traditionally named in honour of the architect. Vitruvius described the human figure as being the principal source of proportion among the classical orders of architecture. It is possible analyse architecture by creating a grid based on key geometrical aspects of the building. Using this to highlight the relationship between proportions can be seen above. Some examples of ideal proportions of Vitruvius are; a palm is for fingers, a man is 24 palms, or the distance from the elbow to the armpit is oneeighth of the height of a man.
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Similar proportions can be found on the Barr Smith Library. We can use these proportions to compare different aspects of the architecture. The elevation is based on a scale ratio of 2.2, this can be calculated by dividing the horizontal grid by the vertical grid. This same scale ratio is replicated for the plan of the building. A similar system transfers down to the smaller details of the library, like the windows, doors, and spaces between columns.
Shade and Shadow
January 22nd, 9AM
January 22nd, 12PM
January 22nd, 3PM
July 22nd, 9AM
July 22nd, 12PM
July 22nd, 3PM
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Luminosity
Aten Reign, 2013. Daylight & LED Light.
Linguistic Definitions
Seeing Light W/ James Turrell
Luminosity, the quality of being luminous. Luminous: emitting or reflecting usually steady, suffused, or glowing light. Luminosity is the comparative degree to which light of a given wavelength induces the sensation of brightness when perceived, it is the relative quantity of light.
It is apparent through James Turrell’s work that light is not a tool to enable vision but rather something to look at itself. This change in perception of light encourages us to regard luminosity as a material, a material that has a physical presence. Because of this; space that is filled with light is solid, and never empty.
Philosophical Meaning The meaning of light and luminosity extends beyond linguistic definitions. Luminosity was derived from French luminosité in the 1630s, or else a native formation from luminous + ity. In astronomy, “intrinsic brightness of a heavenly body”. Even before 1630, light was considered to be spiritual and the divine, it is illumination and intelligence. Light is the source of goodness and the ultimate reality. It is the sun, and it is the avenger of evil forces and darkness. Light is knowledge, purity and morality. The use of light can lead to very diverse feelings: a ray of sunlight calls attention; glare overpowers; the nocturnal sky fascinates, while a dense dark forest arouses fear. Religions have made use of these experiences to convey the mystic aspects of their respective deities — accordingly, so too do their erected buildings.
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In Turrell’s Afrum I, 1967, he took three-dimensional space and made the same kind of allusions to the space beyond that, he accomplished this by using a high-intensity projector to cast a tightly framed beam of light in the corner of the room to generate a geometric form with the illusion of a three-dimensional figure. “What happened then is that I got more interested in the plumbing of hypothetical space and the idea of the presence or quality of light. Afrum, was more of a painting in the sense that you have painting on a two-dimensional surface that alludes to perhaps three dimensions or unsolvable three-dimensional things. You don´t need to call it fourth dimension but just one that does not solve up in three. So, in that way, my work does have a lot more to do with painting than it does with sculptural or architectural senses.” After the projection installations Turrell gradually moved towards more architectural situations and experimented with shallow space constructions. The hidden diffuse light makes them fascinating.
The Light Inside, 1999. Neon & Ambient Light.
End Around, 2006. Neon & Fluorescent Light.
Back lit partition walls create a floating and soft perspective for the viewer. In other space division constructions Turrell has installed a window-like opening between two rooms where the luminous light of the outside space pours into the unlit viewing space. These windows emerge as a passage for a vertical luminous sky. Invisible edges due to round corners in the outside room, a dissolved back wall texture due to the light, and an optical defocusing trick with the clear window frame in the foreground as well as the wall in the back, merge into an overwhelming experience of infinite luminescence. “There is no object in my work. There never was. There is not image within it. I have: no object, no image, and no point of focus. My interest is in plumbing the space.” In comparison to Turrell’s abstract shallow space installations, his tunnel installations involve a stronger architectural context. Precise frame lines are set in contrast to diffuse blue light to let the viewer experience transcendental passages playing with the boundaries and elements of the sky. “Light itself is becoming the revelation.” Butterfield, Jan: The art of light + space. Abbeville Press, New York. 1993. Birnbaum, Daniel; Noever, Peter: James Turrell: The Other Horizon. Hatje-Cantz, Ostfildern-Ruit. 2001. Giménez, Carmen; James Turrell. Guggenheim museum, New York. 2013. Govan, Michael; James Turrell. A Retrospective. Prestel, New York. 2013. The Turrell quotes from the book “The art of light + space” and the press release by Kayne Griffin Corcoran. Image 1 (left): Andreas Tjeldflaat, 2012. Image 2 (middle top): James Turrell, 1999. Image 3 (middle bottom): Robert Wedemeyer, 2006. Image 4 (right): James Turrell, 2018.
Roden Crater, East Portal, 2010.
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Ideation I
Direction
Sunlight Direction
Shading Devices
Seek Light Is Self-Reflection / Interiorisation
Self-reflection, both physically, and mentally.
Interiorization, the furthest, or deepest point. Mentally this represents the greatest point of self-reflection.
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Morning Shading
Afternoon Shading
The geometry plays on light and shadow, to stimulate a perception of self-reflection. As an individual navigates through the sight, they are free to make decisions on directions of passage, through these movements they encounter moments of light and darkness.
Passage
Movement
The moments of darkness represent self-thought, whereas the moments of light suggest a realization of one’s self. Interiorization is both achieved through depth of site and the depth of character that is provoked.
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Ideation II
Direction
11
Space
Defining Interiorisation
Create Enclosure
Entry & Exit
The site decreases in depth and luminesce as the distance from entry increases. The result of this is a space that defines interiorization. The enclosed space carries this interiorization throughout the site. Upon entry, a slow gradual descent directs the visitor towards self-reflection, realisation, and interiorization.
Dark Descend
When the visitor approaches the exit, they are met with a flood of light. This creates contrast from the experience of entry. The contrast represents the moment of realisation and completes the process of self-reflection.
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Ideation III
Direction
13
Space
Defining Interiorisation
Movement
Enclosure
Light
Ideation three takes interiorization to new depths. The functional areas within the space catch and reflect light at certain points depending on the direction of sunlight. This creates moments of light and darkness, which provokes self-thought. Within this pavilion, we regain focus on ourselves and forget the world we exist in. Visitors are awakened to face their true self, and to repair their degraded perceptions.
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Reflection
Linguistic Definitions
Frank Gehry and Reflective Facades
Reflection is a consequence of or arises from something else. The process in which light, sound, and heat are sent back from a body or surface and do not pass through it is reflection. Perceivable light reflecting off a surface often results in a mirrored image.
The American architect Frank Gehry transferred this aesthetic of brilliance from glass to metal with the titanium cladding of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in 1997. The building has turned into an urban jewel that kicked off numerous urban redevelopments with its iconic signature. Many an aspiring metropolis assumes that the structural form is the key successful factor in “Bilbao effect.” However, with the sparkling light qualities of the titanium sheets and its changing appearance, Frank Gehry has not only brought a dynamic composition of forms to Bilbao but reinforced his design with a distinctive, dynamic image which varies with every cloud and sunbeam. Gehry once reflected upon his early days of practicing architecture, he said “I grew up as a modernist, decoration is a sin, that is the mantra of modernism.”
Philosophical Meaning Reflection has become a notion of human thought, to considerately reflect upon one’s self is inherently the result of human reflection. During the late 17th century, English philosopher John Locke argued that ideas, thought, and knowledge are not innate. Locke believes that knowledge and understanding is gained through two aspects of experience, external and internal. The second aspect of experience Locke calls reflection. The mind operates on the ideas it has gained and reflection seems to refer to our conscious reflecting on these operations. Locke puts it this way: “the perception of the operations of our own mind within us, as it is employed about the ideas it has got; - which operations, when the soul comes to reflect on and consider, do furnish the understanding with another set of ideas”. These reflections produce ideas, says Locke, such as “perception, thinking, doubting, and believing”.
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And he raised the question; “So if you cannot use decoration then how do you humanize a building; how do you humanize a thing?” He later answered this with materials, stating that materials can be expressive. At the Guggenheim, Gehry uses the titanium skin to reflect light and illuminate the building, as well as the spaces around it. This illumination is constantly changing due to the moving clouds or the position of the sun Because of this, Gehry can humanize the object.
Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao. 1997
Context is often controversially discussed when reviewing Frank Gehry’s work. Criticism often includes complaints that his designs do not appear to belong to the surroundings. Alternatively, Juan Ignacio Vidarte, director of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, talked about Frank’s design of the museum, “it was like an object from outer space that had landed here a century ago. So, it’s foreign, in the sense that it has nothing to do with any of the buildings which are around. But at the same time, there is a quality of it which makes it belong to its place. You take this out of here and nobody would understand the city”.
Thomas Schielke. “Veiled in Brilliance: How Reflective Facades Have Changed Modern Architecture” 12 Oct 2016. ArchDaily. Accessed 28 Aug 2018. <https://www.archdaily.com/796974/veiled-in-brilliance-howreflective-facades-have-changed-modern-architecture/> ISSN 0719-8884 Pollack, Sydney. 2005. Sketches Of Frank Gehry. DVD. Image 1 (left): https://art.branipick.com/the-world-famous-metallic-curves-of-frank-gehrys-guggenheimmuseum-bilbao-spain-3456-x-2304/ Image 2 (middle): Stefano Montagner. 2014 Image 3 (right): Andreas Lier. 2016
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Final Design Seek Light Is Self-Reflection / Interiorisation The pavilion of interiorization further develops the concepts discussed in ideation three. As visitors navigate to the bottom of the pavilion they are faced with darkness. The pavilion tapers, which further separates us from the outside world; reality. The shadows evoke moments of self-thought. Interlaced beams filter the light through the pavilion, every hour of the day creates a new space to be explored. The pavilion is never empty, as light touches the walls, and shadows fill the depths. Light does not reveal the architecture; the architecture reveals light. The Architecture within light.
Elevations 1:200
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SD 1 28
Section not to scale
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Realisation
19
20
Approach & Access Access to the pavilion is granted through one entry point. Exiting the pavilion requires visitors to use the same path. Navigation, however, is not so two dimensional. Depressing 12 metres into the ground, the deepest point within the pavilion is 4 metres narrower.
Ground Level
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Site Plan - Not to scale
B Level 1
SD 2 28
B Level 3
N 22
^
B Level 2
Light
23
24
Interiorisation
25
26
Construction
27
Exploded Axonometric
22mm Internal render finish Sealed finish on concrete slab
250mm Precast wall slab 200mm Suspended precast slab
SD 1 18
SECTION DETAIL 1 1:10
250mm Precast concrete wall 10mm Vertical reinforced steel bars 22mm Internal render 10mm Horizontal reinforced steel bars
SD 2 22
SECTION DETAIL 2 1:10
1:10 Details
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Opacity
Salk Institute for biological studies, La Jolla, 1965
Linguistic Definitions Opacity is the quality or state of a body that makes it impervious to the rays of light, the relative capacity of matter to obstruct the transmission of radiant energy. The state of lacking transparency or translucence is a quality of opacity. Opacity is also the quality of being obscure in meaning. Philosophical Meaning Light is the source of goodness and the ultimate reality, opacity explains something that hinders the ability for light to shine through. Light is knowledge, purity, morality and truth; therefore, the obstruction of light could be regarded as impure, immoral, or untruthful. The word opacity is used more generally for anything obscure, unclear, or incomprehensible. Human action and communications are often regarded as transparent; to be honest, truthful, and allow others to see through to oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s true self. Respectively, to be opaque is to hide knowledge or truth from others. We as humans are capable of obscuring or revealing the light of truth.
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National Assembly, Dacca, Bangladesh, 1962- 1974
Yale University Art Gallery, California. 1954
Louis Kahn and the Power of Shadow Kahn is, in a way, the elemental architect. He very much saw his buildings as existing in a timeless condition. An important aspect of his work is the intelligence of spatial layering, “wrapping ruins around buildings”, letting the direct and indirect light fall on several different surfaces as it moves through the building’s envelope. Light was for him not an end in itself; it was part of the notion of creating larger spaces for people to gather. Kahn’s architecture is static in its creation of centralized spaces and the choreography of the route leading to that place. Kahn sensed Light as the giver of all presences, and the material as spent light. He said; “What light makes cast a shadow and the shadow belong to light. The mountain is of light, its shadow belongs to light. I sense threshold, light to silence, silence to light, the ambiance – Inspiration, wherein the desire to be, to express, crosses with the possible.” The rock, the stream, the wind inspires the will to express, to seek the means of imparting presence. The beautiful in the material is transformed from wonder that lies in the desire to express. The “mysteriousness” of shadow was also closely linked to evoking silence and awe. For Kahn, while opacity evokes the uncertainty of not being able to see, of potential dangers, it also inspires deep mystery. It is in the hands of the architect to evoke silence, secret or drama with light and shadow - to create a “treasury of shadows,” a “Sanctuary of Art.”
“Structure is the maker of light. A column and a column bring light between. It is darkness-light, darkness-light, darkness-light. From the column we realise a simple and beautiful evolvement of rhythmic beauty from the primitive wall and its openings. I would like to say that even a room which must be dark must have a crack of light to know how dark it is.” Here Kahn speaks of a relationship between light and dark, a relationship that must exist for the desire of freedom and the promises of the outside. Walls are thick to protect man, but Kahn did not use opacity for the sake of man’s protection, rather it was to protect the treasury of shadow. Natural light provides endless changing qualities in which a room is a different room every second of the day.
Vassella, Alessandro: Louis I. Kahn – Silence and Light: The Lecture at ETH Zurich, February 12, 1969. Park Books, Zürich. 2013. Schielke, Thomas. 2015. “Light Matters: Louis Kahn And The Power Of Shadow”. Archdaily. https://www. archdaily.com/362554/light-matters-louis-kahn-and-the-power-of-shadow. Allen, Stan. 2018. Fire and Light. Interview by Isabel Concheiro, Till Von Mackensen. Image 1 (left): Antonia Lowe, 2017. Image 2 (middle): Beth Victoria, 2015. Image 3 (right): Lionel Feininger.
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Filtration
Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, France. 1955
Linguistic Definitions Filtration is the action or process of filtering something. The process of passing through or as if through a filter grades in a different object, one that is more refined than it was in its original state. Filtration indicates a movement that initiates purification. Philosophical Meaning Light is purity and filtration is a process that purifies an object of its objectionable qualities, leaving only what is required. The action of purification requires an object to pass through a filter or undergo a process of filtration. In the project of the ‘Critique of Pure Reason’, German philosopher Immanuel Kant associates the mind as a filter stating that we must employ the mind, the only tool we have, to investigate the mind. We must use the faculties of knowledge to determine the limits of knowledge. Therefore, everything we perceive if processed by our mind, the filter. We break down our own observation to expose truth and purity while disposing of the unwanted pollution. Perhaps movement through space can stimulate a process of filtration and provoke purity of one’s mind and soul.
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Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut
Church of Saint-Pierre, Firminy, France. 2006
Le Corbusier and the Trinity of Light The connection between light, divinity, and holiness has been drawn by many different religions. In Christianity the Bible speaks of God who “is light” or Christ as “the light of the world”. Even if the divine light and visible light are not the same, visible light appears as the most like the heavenly and thereby links both spheres. As an artist as well as an architect, Le Corbusier expressed an exceptional sensitivity for the interaction of colours and light in his sacred buildings. Le Corbusier’s filtration of light is particularly evident in the Church of Saint-Pierre. Le Corbusier famously declared that “Architecture is the masterly, correct, and magnificent play of volumes assembled in space.” While this statement is interpreted usually as an argument for the bright white surfaces of Le Corbusier’s “heroic” period in the 1920s and early ’30s, the idea resonates in the chapel at Ronchamp, the monastery of Sainte Marie de La Tourette, and the parish church of Saint-Pierre in Firminy-Vert, primarily because they are so dark—shadow is just as important as light. That these are places of prayer and introspection, and not houses or schools, is hardly accidental, even though Le Corbusier was, “an outspoken agnostic.”
The important element to consider in Le Corbusier’s architecture is the relationship to the body. Le Corbusier’s architecture must be perceived in motion, whereas Kahn’s architecture is more static in its creation of centralized spaces and the choreography of the route leading to that place. With Le Corbusier, it is more about the directed path of the viewer. That is what activates the relationship between light and architecture, because you must walk around those curved volumes to see the light changing as you move. This dynamic light is attributed to the filtration of light which transcends the static building volumes- a cosmic cycle that changes with the course of the day, year and with a clear or overcast sky. His structural elements range from tiny stellar openings to large tubes, but even small interventions are used to generate remarkable light patterns that reflect cosmic power.
Thomas Schielke. “Light Matters: Le Corbusier and the Trinity of Light” 11 Feb 2015. ArchDaily. Accessed 28 Sep 2018. <https://www.archdaily.com/597598/light-matters-le-corbusier-and-the-trinity-of-light/> ISSN 07198884 Plummer, Henry, and Le Corbusier. 2013. Cosmos Of Light: The Sacred Architecture Of Le Corbusier. Indiana: Indiana University Press. Critique of Pure reason, trans. Werner Pluhar. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1996. Image 1 (left): Henry Plummer, 2011. Image 2 (middle): Henry Plummer, 2011. Image 3 (right): Henry Plummer, 2011.
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Harrison Gale | Rep 2-18 |Structures of Light | Architecture in Light.