"Architecture is the masterly, correct and magnificent play of masses brought together in light"

Le Corbusier

I recall while studying my Bachelor’s degree, how surprising was to see the vital role light plays in the world of architecture. From the Aztec Pyramids which channeled natural light at will through the tunnels and narrow chambers in order to emulate a mood of mystery and self-awareness, to the accuracy for calculating lighting conditions with the assistance of specialized software, everything resides in taking full advantage of the knowledge of this essential resource.

Take a photograph for example, what makes it look beautiful to the eye, is the amount of light captured in the shot; the more balanced it is according to the mood you want to create, the better look it has.

Architecture is to light as oxygen is to us. Energy flow is attached to light for making you go through a rush of emotions. Ourselves respond to light in a way that we can pass from being happy to suddenly be afraid.

I don’t know how to scientifically explain why light is so important to us. What I can say is that we create a permanent bond to it that somehow controls our mood and feelings.

While the main character of all this is light, it is worth noticing that there is an inseparable friend that makes light’s show more interesting: Shadows.

This physical phenomena caused by the partial or total obstruction of light when it hits an object, creates several atmospheres of contrasts where the same thing can look different to our eyes.

Understanding how shadows behave is of paramount importance to craft the right mood intended and make everything more appealing. Shadows puts our imagination to work to find out what is behind that darkness.

Not only shadows give a variety of moods, but help us to determine how far away what we are seeing is; what things are made of; where the light source come from, and where the objects are positioned in their surroundings.

With the improvements in Lighting Analysis software, we now have more tools to simulate light and its effects in order to know what users’ behavior we should expect when the project is built. This makes things a lot easier as you can, beforehand, gather important technical information that will serve as reference during the whole design process.

Photorealistic Visualization and Augmented Reality, on another front, provide a real-world approach to what you should see when your conceptual idea is materialized. The precision of those techniques have helped out architecture design to offer a richer, more exciting way to showcase proposals. Therefore the importance of understanding light’s principles in the physical world so they can be applied in the Computer Graphics environment.

Related to all this, 2015 has been declared as “The International Year of Light-and Light Based Technologies” by the United Nations Organization, and a vast number of educational offers are available to people so they can understand the importance of light in our world.

As a conclusion, the role of light in architecture must be taken into full consideration in order to generate pleasant emotions for people to enjoy.

Have Fun!

FURTHER LEARNING

Books

1. Essential CG Lighting Techniques with 3ds Max, 3rd Edition, by Darren Brooker. 2009 Focal Press.

Website Resources

1. http://www.light2015.org/Home.html