Light in Architectural Space

Architecture speaks the words of light. Architecture and light are in a
continual sequential performance, a continual conversation. The grammar of
light is interpreted by architecture throughout the diurnal sequence. This
paper suggests that the theatre of this language - the form of light's shape - is
the interpretation of the natural activity and relationship light has with object
world. This theatre is the power of light to transform space in and through
time. The grammar of this transformation is a complex and multifaceted over
layering of light in architectural space, making light upon architectural form a
recitation. When light coalesces with architectural space it is often described
as atmosphere. This descriptive process, the paper will suggest, is where
architecture and light graduate as a theatre of perceptual experience. Time is
an aspect of this mechanism, and the incremental movement within the
diurnal sequence changes light, which in turn, changes space. Time is
significant, as time provides the connection between architecture and light,
and from this connection, the theatre of lights perceptual experience in space
is made. This paper poses the notion that all architecture, subject to light, is a
performing space. The performance of light, shadow and darkness within
these architectural spaces is a creative gesture, which is a continual
perceptual theatre experience. The art of theatre and the art of architecture are
linked inextricably by light as the arbiter in the emotional contexts of each.
The presence of light is fundamental to generative perceptual experience in
both practices. The drama of light and its relationship to our being, when we
experience architectural space, is, this paper posits, contained in the
perceptual intensity of light, which includes, the softness of shadow light and
the unfathomable blackness of darkness.