STUDIES OF LIGHT AND SHADOW Ban Tak Library
Niki Tandanand
Undergraduate Thesis Fall 2018 - Spring 2019 College of Architecture and Urban Studies Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Professor Steve Thompson
Acknowledgement I would like to give thanks to Mom and Dad for supporting me and allowing me to have such a great academic experience. My studio professors: Steve Thompson, Kevin Jones, Bill Galloway, Paola Zellner Bassett, and Martha Sullivan for mentoring me and giving me the design foundation I needed to become an independent architect. My friends: John Chamberlain, Zach Mang, Andy Merida and all of my studio friends for keeping me inspired and push me to be the best I could be.
LIGHT AND SHADOW
Drawing out shadows Can I construct objects from their shadows?
How do shadows behave on different receiving surfaces?
TOWER OF LIGHT | PROJECT 1
Proportions Location Overview Section Scale 1: Time of the Day Scale 2: Day of the Year Scale 3: Season of the Year
BAN TAK LIBRARY | PROJECT 2
Identifying Universal Elements in Architecture Floor Column Wall Door/ Threshold Ceiling Roof Proportions From Universals to Particular Overview Iterations Massing Compositions Schematic Plan Building Section Study Interior Strategies Building 3 Design Building 4 Design Building 5 Design Building 6 Design Building 7 Design Courtyard Design Entrance Design Wall Detail Roof Detail
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Stairs Solid Stairs Sketches
Thesis Description This thesis explores the questions of light and shadow through two projects; Tower of Light and Ban Tak Library. The thesis began from three abstract drawings that show my thinking about light and shadow. The questions then became more particular when moving towards the two projects. The Tower of Light is aimed to see if I could design architecture that tells time and the Ban Tak Library is aimed to utilize the knowledge from previous studies to modify the universals to the particulars to fit the site context, the needs of the locals, and the conventional construction techniques.
Light and Shadow
Drawing out shadows The thesis began from the exploration of how light and shadow behave through the use of geometric projections. Starting with two sets of grid and projecting up objects at different heights, I learned that shadow can begin to tell sizes relative to each other. I playfully imagine these objects as columns and then design some as hollow, inhabitable spaces. To get as much as I could from a drawing, I combined two different times or light angles into one drawing.
Top: projected mass Bottom: hollow columns
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Abstract drawing 1
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Can I construct objects from their shadows? With the aim of trying to understand shadow more, I started to draw two patterns of shadows and imagine that these shadows are cast at two different moments. The objects start to take the forms of arms reaching out to block light to make the intentional shadow pattern. I also learned that to create the right opening, the back surface of the object is where the light will hit last and the front surface becomes an opening allowing light to penetrate through to the back opening.
Top: extended arms casting the intended shadows Bottom: construction of the opening 4
Abstract drawing 2
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How do shadows behave on different receiving surfaces? I began to question the receiver of the shadows, which is the ground surface or any surfaces that shadows touch. In this case, it is a reflective one. The shadows on the reflective surface is the underside of the objects. I cut holes through the object and introduce light at different areas to create a more dynamic composition. Imagining that these objects are created in the scale of a city, I started to put supporting cables on the verytical objects to see how that would change the shadows on the ground.
Top: openings in the masses Bottom: tower and cables
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Abstract drawing 3
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Tower of Light Project 1
Proportions Beginning the project with a small exercise of proportion studies, I create a series of objects that has two masses interfering with each other and looking closely at the design of the in-between spaces.
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Location: Heritage Park, Blackburg, Virginia 37.240300, -80.460359 The aim of this project is to further study light shadow in an architecture project. The program of this project is a clock tower and the main focus is to understand light and shadow of the location to make them tell time spatially.
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Site photos
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Overview The idea of the tower is to have the inhabitants enter the architecture from complete darkness into a space where the light is filtered in softly. The opening is designed to highlight every other step of the stairs and create a dimly-lit interior. This pattern, however, breaks when the stairs turn from being more atmospheric to being more of a climb, where the inhabitants realize the feeling of anticipation. The inhabitant then enters another dark, concrete mass to be emerge into another dimly lit, calm space where the reading room is. The project explores time telling at three different scales: the time of the day, the day of the year, and the season of the year.
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Sections and elevations
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Scale 1: Time of the Day Sundial The first scale of telling time is the time of the day. In the back side of the first set of stairs, there is a small courtyard with a sundial in the corner. The space is designed to be a gathering place where people can learn about how sundial works. The sundial is a simple box construction with two corners exposed to allow for light to hit the gnomon (diagonal marker).
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Sundial courtyard
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Scale 2: Day of the Year Window The second scale of telling time is the day of the year. After entering through the concrete shell, there is a window where the inhabitants can look back on the landscape to see where the marker lands.
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Analemma window
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Scale 2: Day of the Year Marker The marker of the analemma is located on the roof and the concrete landscape of the tower acts as a receiver of the building shadow. The concrete platform has metal markings on it, where at 12 pm everyday, the shadow tells the day of the year.
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Marker and roof assembly
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Scale 3: Season of the Year Analemma The third scale of telling time is the season of the year. In the South-facing corner of the tower, there is an opening that acts as another analemma to tell what season of the year it is. This space is used as a reading room for the tower.
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Analemma wall opening
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Ban Tak Library Project 2
Identifying Universal Elements in Architecture After the more detailed studies of ligth and shadow, I want to shift back to a more general study of architecture. I began to identify the universal architectural elements, which are floor, column, wall, door/threshold, ceiling, and roof. After identifying these six basic elements, I began to brainstorm different strategies of modifying them using light and shadow as the main way to do it.
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Studies of universal elements
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Floor 1. A surface on which something rests; a foundation. 2. The base of any cavity; the bottom of a lake, sea, etc. 3. A naturally level space or extended surface. Also = the ground (obs exc. dialect). 4. An artificial platform, or levelled space, for the carrying on of some industry, esp. threshing. 5. Applied to the ceiling of a room, in its relation to the apartment above. Also transf. of the sky. 6. A set of rooms and landings in a house on the same or nearly the same level; a story. 7. metonymically. Those who sit on the floor, as opposed to those who occupy elevated seats in token of rank or dignity. Obs. 8. The framework or structure of joists, etc. supporting the flooring of a room. 9. The layer of boards, brick, stone, etc. in an apartment, on which people tread; the under surface of the interior of a room. Source: The Oxford-English Dictionary
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I began to think of different ways floor can be shaped according to light. Floors can not only let light in, but also serve as the connections between themselves and vertical structures such as columns, walls, doorway, and apertures.
Floor openings
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Column 1. A cylindrical or slightly tapering body of considerably greater length than diameter, erected vertically as a support for some part of a building; spec. in the classic orders, a round pillar with base, shaft, and capital supporting the entablature; in Gothic and Norman architecture applied to the pillar or pier supporting the arch. Sometimes standing alone as a monument. 2. transf. An upright mass of water, air, mercury, etc., resembling a column in shape; a narrow mass rising high in the air, as a column of smoke. 3. Anatomy and Physiology. A name given to various parts of the body. esp. spinal column or vertebral column, the spine. Source: The Oxford-English Dictionary
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Looking at different column shapes, I started to modify each to allow light to enter the floors below. These modifications are usually done at the intersection between floor and column.
Column shapes
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Wall 1. An enclosing structure built round a garden, field, yard, or other property; also, each of the portions between the angles of such an enclosure. 2. The interior wall of an apartment. 3. Something that confines or encloses like the wall of a house, prison, etc.; the containing sides of a vessel, the vertical sides of a tent, and the like. 4. An embankment to hold back the water of a river or the sea. 5. A rampart of earth, stone, or other material constructed for defensive purposes. 6. A defensive structure enclosing a city, castle, etc. 7. within the walls: within the ancient boundaries (of a city) as distinguished from the suburbs. 8. An enclosing structure composed of bricks, stones, or similar materials laid in courses. 9. wall of timber n. a wooden partition, a fence. 10. Something which is a barrier or impediment to intellectual, moral, spiritual, or social union or intercourse; also more definitely wall
of partition. Source: The Oxford-English Dictionary
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When looking at the modification of the walls, the exploration also moves towards the thinking of apertures in architecture. One of the modification strategies is to bring light into another opening. For example, there could be a window placed intentionally to bring light down to an opening on the floor, which then brings it down to the floor below.
Wall openings
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Door/ Threshold 1. With definite or indefinite numerals, expressing position in a series or row, and hence indicating the room or house to which the door belongs. 2. The opening or passage into a building or room, which may be closed by a door; a doorway. 3. A means of entrance or exit; esp. to open a door to or for: to render possible the admission of; to furnish opportunity or facility for.
4. Anything resembling a door in its motion or use; a lid, valve; an opening, a passage. 5. in doors: within doors, in or into the house. 6. A movable barrier of wood or other material, consisting either of one piece, or of several pieces framed together, usually turning on hinges or sliding in a groove, and serving to close or open a passage into a building, room, etc. Source: The Oxford-English Dictionary
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When looking at doorways, I realized that thresholds could be highlighted by have openings around it to allow light to express the door frame. I also began to design potential details like door handles and frame shapes.
Door frame designs
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Ceiling 1. Upper limit. 2. The lining of the roof of a room with woodwork, plaster, or the like; now, usually, with lath and plaster. Obs exc. 3. The undercovering of a roof or floor, concealing the timbers; the plaster of the top of a room. Source: The Oxford-English Dictionary
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The ceiling condition of the architecture is very important when working with light. It could be used to diffuse light down into the interior spaces. The ceiling strategies also have a direct correlation with the roof assembly.
Ceiling filters
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Roof 1. The canopy of heaven, the upper air, etc., regarded as covering the earth; the sky. 2. The highest point or summit of something. Obs. 3. Something (esp. something immaterial) regarded as forming a shelter or covering like that of the roof of a building. 4. The external upper covering of a house or other building; the framing structure on top of a building supporting this. 5. The interior overhead surface of a room or other covered part of a house, building, etc.; the ceiling. Also: the upper internal surface of a cave or other structure. 6. The internal space immediately beneath the roof or amid the rafters of a building; the attic, the loft. 7. Something material which in form or function is regarded as comparable to the covering of a house. Source: The Oxford-English Dictionary
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The roof becomes the main element which brings light down to the floors below. The basic element that I explored and iterated is skylights.
Roof strategies
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Proportions For Ban Tak Library, I know that I want to design the architecture as a whole and as a campus of buildings. I began to look back at my early proportion studies and compose these models to study the in-between spaces and see how different masses interact with each other. Part of the library is modeled using rockite and brass rods. A lot of time was spent on forming the right proportions.
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From Universals to Particulars Location: Ban Tak District, Tak, Thailand 17.046920, 99.057959 This project is aimed to form architecture set in place, location, light and shadow. The goal is to use light and shadow purposefully for the location and the need of the locals. This location is picked because it is somewhere I want to create change and improvement in the community. Ban Tak District is a small village is Northern Thailand. The site is an empty park where on the North, there is a school and a temple. The surrounding area is houses for the villagers. On the East, there is a smaller intimate village road and on the West, there is a bigger highway for people coming from further away.
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Site photos
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Overview The form of the architecture comes from the intention of following the existing site condition, such as roads, trees, and village building sizes. The form is meant to create a transition from the dense forest to the large open space with a small village road. The buildings are formed around the central courtyard and branch off as lifted masses creating more social spaces below. The pilotis, in a way, create similar spaces to those in the forest establishing a smooth transition from the nature to the architecture.
Top: site model Bottom three: central courtyard
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Top: shadows in the morning Center: shadows at noon Bottom: shadows in the afternoon 45
Iterations With the intention of understanding the site more, I began to brainstorm different compositional iterations.
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Early iterations
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This is the final composition with which I moved forward. The buildings are separated in a way that their sizes are more analogous to the village houses. The massing of the buildings now fit the context more than the earlier iterations.
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Massing ideas
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Massing Composition 1 This first massing composition is focused on drawing out the shadows of the buildings and trying to compose it to the level that the shadows become purposeful in the shaping of the overall architecture. Looking at the typical construction techiniques in traditional Thai architecture, I know that I want the buildings to be lifted up with concrete cloumns and platforms for flooding and use timber construction for the actual buildings. The courtyard in the middle is the strongest space in this composition and it is the idea with which I am going to move forward.
Top: 5.5 ft x 5.5 ft grid Bottom: drawing out shadows of the masses
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Massing 1
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Massing Composition Final This final massing composition started with establishing the central courtyard and pulling up masses around it. The formation of the masses follows the existing circulation of the site and the dense forest area to the West. The courtyard for this massing has two towers on the East and West sides, in which the East tower shades the courtyard in the morning and the West tower shades it in the afternon. Aside from the four buildings surrounding the courtyard, the other buildings are lifted up to create shaded public spaces.
Top: subtraction of the masses to create walkways Bottom: masses formed around the existing trees 52
Massing 2
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Schematic Plan The focus of this drawing is on the circulation and organization of the buildings. I began to imagine the interior conditions and entrances to each building. The play of duality is here, where the entrances and shaded outdoor foyers of the buildings are located at the gaps between the buildings. The compositional order of the architecture follows a grid of ten feet by ten feet.
Top: shaded entrances and outdoor foyers Bottom: 10 ft x 10 ft grid
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Plan and order
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Section and elevation
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Building Section Study This section drawing allows me to think about the construction of the building and start designing the interior spaces. The ground floor of the building acts as shaded social spaces for the locals with sloped cantilevers creating the ceiling of the exterior space. The roof has skylights that bring light down to the interior. The connections between each separate building have shaded outdoor terraces that also act as vestibules before entering each building.
Top: skylights Bottom: outdoor foyer
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Interior design
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The construction of the buildings is in traditional timber on top of concrete platforms. The intention is to create a separation between the base and body of the architecture. The base is made with concrete pilotis and platforms holding the timber walls. The body is lifted by these pilotis to create social spaces below and lift the floors above seasonal flooding. The body is timber with members interlocking at the corners to stiffen the whole. In this drawing, I also began to design windows and railings for the building.
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Exterior design
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Interior Strategies When designing the interior, I came up with three different strategies of letting light into the spaces inside. The first strategy is to have light boxes on the Southfacing facades, where the sunlight hits constantly everyday, and diffuse that light into reading and circulation spaces. The second strategy is to have book archives suspended from the roof with skylights inside highlighting the book shelving. The third strategy is to have windows on the Northfacing to allow for views and indirect light to enter. The design of the interior starts with building 3 since building 1 and 2 only serve as a gallery and cafe for the program.
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Isometric interior
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Building 3 Design The interior design of the building is focused on highlighting the shelvings for the books and bring light into reading spaces. The first reading space is next to the shelvings where there is a thin horizontal window to bring indirect light into the interior as well as for views to the forest in the West. The second reading space is in the center of the room where there is a big skylight above. The book shelves act as light boxes that bring light from the South-facing wall into the reading room next to it. The shape of the shelves is formed to hold books effectively.
Top: horizontal window Bottom: book shelve/ light box
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Building 3 interior
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Building 4 Design This building holds one of the biggest archives in the library. The archive is located in Southwestern corner of the building. It is flooded with diffused light from the grid of skylights. Next to the archive is a reading room where there are vertical windows allowing the inhabitants to look out to the courtyard. There are stairs wrapping around the archive taking people up to the second floor with light boxes bringing light to the stairs.
Top: vertical windows Bottom: light boxes for the stairs
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Building 4 interior
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Building 5 Design This building holds a smaller achive and serves as the entrance mass to the auditorium to the East of it. At the gaps between each building, there are outdoor shaded balconies that act as vestibules with bridges connecting the buildings together. There is also a slight change in elevation, therefore, there are stairs behind the big timber wall with vertical windows bringing ligth and views into the circulation space. The archive is made out of large metal plates that form a box and are hung down from the roof. Inside, there is a grid of wood shelving going up vertically.
Top: outdoor foyer Bottom: archive
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Building 5 interior
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Building 6 Design This building serves as a large auditorium for the library. The challenging part about this building is the construction of the sloped cantilever. The structure of the cantilever is concrete that is casted with the floor. The shape of the cantilever is a slab that is stepping up with walls casted around to stiffen the slab. The strategies to let light into the auditorium space is through the roof and wall. There are big skylights that bring light down to the seating and presentation areas. On the South-facing wall, there are also light boxes that bring light in from the side of the auditorium.
Top: skylight Bottom: light boxes
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Building 6 interior
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Building 7 Design This building contains the study spaces of the library and an archive, which is from the roof down to the first level. The archive and the big skylight are the elements that bring light down to all the floors. The circulation of the building is very similar to others. The stairs that go all the way up is located around the archive with light boxes bringing diffused light to the interior. The reading spaces are next to the archive with horizontal windows bringing indirect light and views inside.
Top: skylights Bottom: light boxes for the stairs
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Building 7 interior
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Courtyard Design The idea of the central courtyard comes from the exisiting condition of the site, which has nothing but a small park for the exisiting temple and school. This is a way to give back to the site and keep the exisitng activities for the locals. The courtyard is formed by the surrounding four buildings that hover three feet above ground. When approaching, the inhabitants will be able to hear the activities but cannot see what is actually happening. The courtyard is meant to be an outdoor intimate space of the architecture. There are two towers to the East and West of the courtyard. In the morning, the East tower shades the courtyard and the West tower shades it in the afternoon.
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Top: windows Bottom: outdoor walkway
Exterior courtyard perspective
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Entrance Design The entrance of the main buildings are designed to match the two-storey size of the architecture. The entrance subtraction creates a frame for the door, which is smaller in size, to break the scale fo the building down to the human scale. The idea of the subtraction of the mass initially came from trying to create a visual contrast to convey entrance for the locals. This done by pushing back the mass to create a shadow surface on the building.
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Building entrance
Entrance perspective
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Interior Design The main focus in the interior is on bringing the right quality of light into every part of the building. For the auditorium, the design of the skylights is based on two different parts; the presentation area, which is the front of the room, and the seating area, which is recedes to the back where the floors step up to form the sloped cantilever on the exterior of the building. The intention of having two large skylights is to highlight the two functions of the room and diffuse enough light down to have great light quality throughout the day. The light boxes on the South-facing wall serve as a secondary strategy to keep the space consistently lit.
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Top: skylight Bottom: light boxes
Auditorium perspective
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Wall Detail The tall, vertical form of the apertures is designed to contrast the strong horizontality of the timber walls. The windows are extended down passed the floor slab showing the floor level. The design of the openings is based on the construction and structure of the building. Wherever the apertures are located, there is a series of up-right timbers interlocking with the walls to stiffen the structure of the whole.
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Windows
Wall section detail
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Roof Detail The way to bring light inside from the roof is through the use of skylights. The shape of each one is designed to diffuse and distribute light down to the spaces below. The size of the skylights comes from modifying the conventional two feet by two feet celing tiles. The grid of the ceiling structure is two and a half feet to allow for the wood members and metal connection pieces.
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Top: skylight section Bottom: skylights to roof connection
Roof section detail
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Appendix
Stairs With the prompt of simply designing stairs, I focused on the assembly of parts. The stucture of the stairs is mainly at the diagonal leaning column that is attached to the floor above and below. The surface of every step is wood and it is designed to show weatherings of two different wood species.
Top: assembly of the whole Bottom: deisgn of tread surface
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Stairs section and elevation
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Solid Stairs The prompt is then switched to solid stairs. The tool used to design is now a perspective drawing compare to the section drawing of the earlier stairs. The design is based on the carving out of solid mass and highlighting every step with light. The construction of the wall on the right is hung-down panels.
Top: handrail showing the scale of the drawing Bottom: wall openings highlighting every step
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Solid stairs perspective
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Digital Renderings Computer renderings were used early in my thesis to help convey the images of what the architecture would look like built.
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Exterior and interior renderings
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Sketches Through out my thesis, I sketch out every idea I had for architecture and my studies. The use of red is used to help highlight the focus of each sketch.
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STUDIES OF LIGHT AND SHADOW Ban Tak Library
Niki Tandanand
Undergraduate Thesis Fall 2018 - Spring 2019 College of Architecture and Urban Studies Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Professor Steve Thompson