Friday, April 24, 2009

History Of Architectural Lighting Part 1

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING I
I am in the mood of writing history in architecture and interior design lately, and now I am going to reveal a brief history of architectural lighting. :)
There were 2 sources of light for centuries ago, daylight as natural light and flame as artificial light.

NATURAL LIGHT
Daylight of course had impact in architecture lighting design in the past centuries, The building must adapt to requirement for natural lighting, for example the size of the rooms were designed by the availability of natural light as well as ventilation. This condition were developed in architecture design around the world in different climatic zone. We can see it from old and historical buildings around us.

In the cooler climate, the architecture building were built with tall and large windows to allow the light into the building, as much as possible.
Different thing in sunny and dry climate, where the sun shine everyday. Dominantly buildings with small window with reflective exterior walls.


To play with aesthetic quality in architectural lighting with natural daylight, we can see from the architectural details in the building, Certain elements were designed according to the natural light available to get the spacial effect through the light and shadow. The elements were columns, reliefs, ledges, diffusers on windows, and facades. The perfect example are old churches from baroque period or ancient Egyptian pyramid. Those building were built with special lighting effects to adapt the natural light.
Because architectural construction, especially in old period have similar function with astronomical clock, with detailed design and high accuracy to create special lighting effects only occurring on significant days or during particular periods in the year, when the sun rises or sets, or at the summer or the winter solstice.

2 comments :

Anonymous said...

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designcorner said...

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