Light: wave or substance? Light is not built, but its perception is a cultural interpretation and can be designed. How do you define a dark room? How do you define a patio? What is a narrow street on a summer evening? The spaces we design are light pickers, quiet or intense light, artificial light or natural light.
There are examples in contemporary architecture that have used light in a masterly way. In contemporary architecture, for example, RCR Arquitectes, recently awarded the Pritzker Prize, define their architecture as “the quest for the essence between the program and the place” and undoubtedly is through the control of light and materials as they get each space to show the user its own personality calmly. All of this is reflected in the video by Isaki Lacuesta shared by HIC arquitectura that goes beyond the image, moving explaining variations of light in space. They seem united, light-space-time, inseparable companions.
RCR – Isaki Lacuesta from HIC arquitectura on Vimeo.
On the opposite side, Selgas Cano, as Le Corbusier did, plays with light and color of materials, which is only the reflection of the visible spectrum of light on a material. This was demonstrated by the studio in projects such as the Serpentine Gallery or Second Home. The architects of Madrid used ETFE in different versions to create a structure with minimal structural interventions that maximize the entrance of light; With a hypnotizing kaleidoscopic effect.
In other buildings, such as Peter Zumthor‘s Therme Vals, the light becomes almost unreal by combining it with the darkness of materials, stone, reflections on the water and steam, which builds a unique atmosphere.
Jean Nouvel has already demonstrated his mastery of light control with a technological façade at the Arab World Institute in Paris. In the Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi project, the idea of light control, in a more monumental and less technological way, is taken up with a structural cover inspired by the traditional lattices of Arab culture.
In our projects we have worked with light in different ways; Specifically, we have used it as a structure, as an element to provide depth or as a physical color. Light is always an essential element to take into account, but in some of our works this fact is appreciated with special clarity.
We use light as a structure, for example, in Ali Mohammed T. Al-Ghanim Clinic, the courtyards carved in the volume provide natural light to each and every clinic, and the metallic mesh of geometric pattern allows adequate and precise light to pass through.
From the point of view of the depth provided by the light, we have created Credit One, a project whose façade is the centerpiece, a light source that aims to attract drivers. This luminosity is achieved by louvers that, while protecting the building from the sun, generate reflections thanks to its different finishes (mirror and orange) and orientations.
As physical color, we find the light that materializes in our last example. Green Core has a core that fulfils the goal of providing luminosity to a very dense volume through a green metallic mesh that disperses the light through the whole.
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