Abstract:
Architecture is designed to be experienced in a pre-designed way
where the architect uses a combination of materials and lighting
to achieve an experience. Much of a space’s characteristics—
regardless of what sense they might invoke—hinge on materiality,
and that materiality relies heavily on lighting to express itself. The
expression of said materiality relies more on its surface qualiites
than what material is being used because it will ultimately either
reflect, refract, or absorb light. Chiaroscuro fuels the existence
of light since without darkness light would not exist; together the
presence or absence of light reveal a given material’s surface
qualities. The importance of having both is often taken for granted
because society has developed an addiction to light; one that has
allowed for an almost complete elimination of the darkness that
cripples humanity’s most essential sense: sight. Artificial lighting
was introduced to feed that addiction and though it gives way to
a plethora of possibilities in the field of architecture, people take
comfort in a uniformity of light which often times leaves spaces
with the look and feel of an overcast day; void of any drama or
point of interest. There are few like artist Olafur Eliasson who use
lighting to change the way one would normally experience spaces by
experimenting with the bending of perception. This thesis explores
the perception of space through the interaction of light, material,
and viewer.
