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The Relationship Between Light And Architecture Philosophy Essay

Paper Type: Free Essay Subject: Philosophy
Wordcount: 2579 words Published: 1st Jan 2015

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Light creates a feeling of emotions. The origin of light is natural light, which is also known as daylight. There must always be space for natural light; even when people design artificial light, they will want it to look like natural light.

Light controls people’s behavior and emotions. It can make people even happier. When people design light for space they need to put in position of people working in that space. Even lighting seems very functional. For example when people in the park, the streetlight and underground artificial light make people feel uncomfortable. But if it were natural light, people would feel comfortable. Users will create a new space from the feeling, which combines the comfort provided by natural light, and the users own feelings and emotions.

What is light?

Light is the soul of architecture design. Light allows us to see, to know where we are and what around us. Beyond exposing things to view and feel, light models those objects to enhance visual and to help us define the physical world. Nothing would be visible without light, light also makes it possible to express and show to the mind’s eye things that eludes the physical one. Light helps us redefine the relationships of people with the environment and with themselves. It is divided into natural light and artificial light.

Natural light is a gift of nature. Civilized man learns to use artificial light sources which free him from total dependence on daylight, we also learn to appreciate the value of daylight and become aware of its special advantages.

Artificial light is seeing both during the day as well as after dark. It is made by human. It is very useful when lack of natural light.

Relationship between light, space and human

Light is fundamental for space and essential for human well-being and it is the success of any building. Light quality affects human behavior, health, comfort and mood.

“Space and light and order. Those are the things that men need just as much as they need bread or a place to sleep”

-Le Corbusier, August27, 1965

Light, space and human they effect and work with each other. Space needs light to illuminate; light needs space to receive it, light within the space change human experience. They are close relation like people need bread or place to sleep.

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Human factor and people prefer natural light

Human factor is equal importance. People like natural light more than artificial light and prefer to work in daylight and choose to locate close to a window. Natural is essential in provide a pleasant visual environment; contribute to a feeling of wellbeing.

During day times in a work situation where people are in a fixed position most of the time and those situations where people work in whole artificial light conditions are liable to lead to ill health and absenteeism.

Some people believe that the most important reason to natural light is the psychological and physiological impact natural light seems to have on people.

Relationship between light and architecture

“More and more, so it seems to me, light is the beautifier of the building.”

-Frank Lloyd Wright

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Most of the architectures like to amplify use of natural light. Natural light makes architectural more harmony between exterior and interior, nature and human. They think light work with some element like colors can make space more dynamic and beautifier and it is a major natural element in architecture design.

Some of architectures would regard light design as a matter of common sense and experience. Understanding and use of light goes to the heart of the architecture plan. Vision is most important sense through which we experience architecture, and light is the medium that reveals space, form, texture and color to our eyes. More than that, light can be employed through design to evoke an emotional response to increased sensibilities. Light is related to the visual experience of form and space. Architecture and light are close relation.

Light work in space influence moods and emotions. In turns of color, lines forms. It is very sensitive to the balance of light. For example if your go into a space that is completely equally light, it directly affects how you feel the space. Light can have a very positive influence. It can be an emotional reaction and also about how people look in the space. That evokes the emotion. It is the way light makes people look in that space.

When it comes to color changing, there are certain colors that people react to strongly and like. So, if you put any color into the space work with light you will find it changes people perception.

Color created a sense of awe in these buildings, adding to the sense of theatre generated by the scale of the space and the structure. For example medieval church designers saw color and light as direct representations of the divine spirit.

Geometry is one of the architect’s primary tools for making statements in space. It is make extensive use of lines of light. It is combining the basic form with light results in powerful spaces.

Window glass creates the least boundary between inside and outside. Its transparency glass allows light to penetrate into interior space while maintaining a visual connection with the outside world.

Daylight can be explored as an element of form making in architecture. Architecture has used the natural light effect in buildings to create a specific atmosphere. Light and different shadows casted give a sense of motion. Shadows create drama and emphasize light and moving forms that depend on a source of light for their stability. As the sun makes its daily transit from east to west, shadows convey sense of time. Daylight is inextricably linked with windows.

Sky frames bring the sky down into the building interior, creating a frame for it, and making a story from how the heavens are presented through a painted cycle on the face of the dome, was a central focus for these buildings.

Reflection generates reflections of light that are bent, fractured and dispersed, lending a special quality to light.

Man cannot live without sunlight. Daylight gives a more variety of different emotions and feelings as compared to artificial light. It is essential and cannot be replaced. Natural light promotes human health, influences the human spirit to make people feel relaxed and satisfied.

“Architecture is the masterly, correct and magnificent play of volumes brought together in light”

-Le Corbusier

Most of the architectures use different elements to work with light in the space to create different atmospheres. Natural light provides us with the means to show spaces and volumes and interact with our environment to make people enjoy the space.

Natural light better than artificial light

Using as much natural light in interior spaces as much as possible has many advantage over using artificial light. Artificial light is unable to replace some effect of natural light, for example, in the morning when you wake up, natural light go through the window come to interior space. It will make people feel warm, comfortable, and festive. Natural produces positive effects, both physiological and psychological. Making good use of natural light cuts the need of artificial lighting and helps provide a feeling of well being to our everyday life. We need to maximize use of natural light.

In order to begin considering the inclusion of daylight in a building, a designer must have one or more compelling reasons for doing so. Most often daylight is used as either a primary or a secondary interior illuminant; but even if it is used only to provide a particular design effect, the designer must consider the impact of the light on all aspects of the building and its occupants.

Many reasons can justify considering daylight as a light source both residential and commercial buildings, although some of the reasons may apply more to one building category than the other. Among the reasons is quality of the light, importance of daylight as a design element, energy conservation from the use of daylight as a primary illuminant. Natural light is a design element that some designers use as the central design determinant in their work. These designers use the need for varying quantity of natural light in different space of the building to establish the general form, spatial arrangement, and massing for the building.

Quality of natural light

The quality of daylight as an illuminant is an important reason to use natural light in a building. Natural light combination of sunlight and skylight is the one light source that most closely matches human visual response. Natural light is a full-spectrum light. Quality of daylight is good for vision. It is provide a good visual environment. A good visual environment also affects people ability to see objects and feeling of space.

Natural light adds a sense of spaciousness to a room; because natural light can make the room seems larger. Spaciousness is thought to give a feeling of openness produced primarily through visual perception of a space, is a phenomenon that has been studied by a number of building environment researchers.

Natural light and architecture

Natural light keeps changing through times. Most of architects can be accurately determined and can determine the size of the space to determine the spatial orientation of light to selected materials and processing methods, artificial lighting designed space.

However, architects cannot control natural light, which from morning to night, day after day changes. Its existence gives life of space, modeling the spatial sensibility. Natural light for the space, like the air of life, these two have symbiotic relationship. Architects respond to natural light and space collision exhibited by the rich content to be thinking, attention to natural light in the space of visual forms of expression and the spirit of the great potential of creating situations, not just considered as a means to eliminate the dark.

Bring natural light into interior design that many positive effects, including the considerable financial savings in energy and overall effects natural light has on well-being, as well as the challenges natural light presents.

Natural light is considered a beneficial design for many reasons: human health, comfort and satisfaction, energy conservation, view.

3.Lack of natural light in a space, what will happen?

Some of the modern architectures do not have windows, they use artificial lighting and ventilation by air condition, when people work in this kind of space they feel unhealthy. If there is a lack of natural light in a space, people are not able to see out to have a view cut. They will feel cooped-up, isolated and claustrophobic. It also makes people feel depressed and tensed.

4. Natural light promotes human health

Lack of natural light also impacts on the health of building occupants. It becomes ever more important as light itself is nourishment. Too much artificial lighting and too little natural light affect the human health.

Human’s psychological needs may include spirit, mood, atmosphere, and perception. Light creates spirit of space change atmosphere to control human emotion.

Natural light creates spirit of space which changes atmosphere to control human emotion.

Natural light was employed to arouse feelings of mysticism and to give the blessedness of a place. Commonly identified with spiritual forces and beings due to its awing powers over life on earth, light could manifest a divine presence for believers.

The best example to using natural light create spirit should be church. Most of church design have a dark corridor, when people enter it, light from outside go through the roof enter the space attract your eyes to look up, you will feel that light is holy and warm; they believe that god is watching over them. It is the use of visual effects that has played the role of psychological change.

Natural light is the only light; because it has mood and it provides a common agreement for man and it is the only light that makes architecture. Architects had started to question whether light exists in its own right, visible in itself and not only for making other things visible.

Some people believe that spiritual and mystical light, apart from having a materialistic aspect due to its non-physical characteristics, is considered a kind of bond between God and man in a spiritual.

Vitalizing light provides mystical atmosphere. It played an active role; it lent the various, consciously selected materials every conceivable facet, modulation, and nuance of color and there by produced the atmospheric moods of light

Light influence mood

The psychological factors should not be overlooked. People need to change perspective in order to relax the eyes and mood.

Light create atmosphere

Light creates atmosphere. Many factors affect the building atmosphere. Natural light is one of the most important factors. In the film, a sad, mysterious and gloomy atmosphere is difficult to use bright light illumination. In space, it is the same. Architecture needs to use light to create a different order and rhythm change the spatial effect gives different atmosphere.

Light change human perception

Case study

Tadao Ando is one of the most famous architect that likes to use simplest and most neutral cement surfaces. The softness of these, contrast the light that comes in to bathe them or to caress and to nuance them. He also likes to use light and reflection.

He likes to use natural light to highlight, giving them space to transverse entire room as an independent design element.

The way the cross of light opens the wall into the infinite and by contrast to the interior, the striking light source gives us the impression of an infinite beyond.

He believes light gives objects existence objects and connects space and form. Light need space to display it.

Light gives space luminance and energy. It is a most vivid and elements in architecture.

The church of the light shows the sense of natural element of light. Space is completely surrounded by concrete walls. Inside is darkness, in that darkness floats a cross of light itself. Outdoor light that has been rendered abstract by the opening in the wall impacts tension to the space and makes it sacred.

Conclusion:

Natural daylight is irreplaceable and is a major natural element in our life. More and more architectures design to bring natural light in to interior space to change the close space becomes natural and exciting open space. They enhance use of natural light to make space look bigger and brightness. They also use light to controls people’s behavior and their emotions. It can make them happier and less stressful by lightening their mood.

In Praise of Shadow- JunichiroTanizaki 1933

 

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