it's all about the light

For thousands of years light has been serving to humans as a sign within space. Light makes it possible for people to determine their location, surroundings as well as potential threats. Light has always been a key factor in our existence. Apart from the basic significance of sunlight in the human lives, there is also a psychological aspect associated with it. The incidence of light has a major influence on our well-being, as well as does the surface it reflects on and its intensity.

Our project aims to raise awareness of people when it comes to the role the light has had in the human lives since the very beginning and what kind of emotions can be observed in different light settings. By navigating a viewer through illuminations, they are familiar with, to those unknown, we show that the light has a key function in our lives, being driving our emotions and sense of safety.

Due to the technological advancement, the sunlight has been replaced with artificial sources of light, while disrupting its natural function in the environment. Besides numerous benefits, the technological advancement has also caused an issue, which is not commonly recognised – light pollution. This issue has became a global manner and it influences a greater portion of people on Earth. A significant problem which we’re trying to tackle is also the fact that we have stopped to distinguish between different forms of daylight. The time of day has lost its significance in our eyes, as we can effortlessly support ourselves with artificial lighting. Our project is an analysis of light in different landscapes – in the city, in the water and the forest.

The project is sort of a come back to what’s initial for us. A viewer and simultaneously a participant of the event is guided from its known to them like the city lights, to what’s originally close to them but its deeply hidden like the forest. In this project we wanted to focus on the feelings of a viewer. To give them enough time and space to live the moment as well as a space to relax themselves and their senses.

The architecture itself is only the background, a tool allowing for observation of what exists in all of us since the very begging. Every room is equipped in a mirror system placed in the ceiling. The mirrors reflect the light coming the skylights, which creates an atmosphere in each room. The angle of incidence in each moment of a given day is not significant because the mirrors are programmed in a way in which they react to the sun movement and select the right angle in each of the rooms.

The rooms are connected by dark hallways, which are meant to calm the sight and thoughts in order for the viewers to be fully ready for the experience. Additionally, the whole building is partially placed in the ground and the hallways are effectively ramps with a subtle downward slope guiding a viewer into the ground and into themselves. The rooms are not equipped with any other forms of light than natural – the evolution of light can only be experienced when the sun is in the sky.