Light paper 1- Light Reveal Experience

 

Light Reveal Experience 

Callie Williams 

    Each and every person on the planet has had their own experience with light, weather it be too
much light, or not enough. Light plays a huge role in the way we perceive the world around us and go
about our lives. Light gives us information and orients us to the planet and is important in accomplishing
tasks in our day to day lives. In reference to light and place, the text mentions that industrialized countries
widely use artificial lighting. We use lamps for bedtime reading, task lighting for late nights at work and even the
flashlights on our cellphones to help us find the thing we dropped behind the bed. From my own experience,
a lot of the experiences that I've had with artificial lighting have been either neutral or negative (give or take the
ambient lighting of a nice restaurant). For example, task lighting in my painting studio never seems to
be at the right place and creates a glare or is either too bright or not bright enough. Another negative
experience I've had with artificial lighting is staying in the interior design studio all night. You never
realize how cold and harsh artificial lighting feels until you’ve spent thirteen or more consecutive hours
sitting under a fluorescent bulb.
    On the other hand though with light and nature, almost every experience i've ever had with
natural lighting has been positive and memorable, in fact some of my favorite memories I’ve had are being
outside in the sun's presence. Walking through the forest at sunset in January, playing at the park
with friends after school, and the sun peering into the airport windows just before you board your
early morning flight to name a few.The sun's ability to light our world is amazing, not to mention that
natural lighting is much better for painting. Natural light has the seemingly miracle ability to boost your
mood and draw you outside to soak up the rays. “Lighting Revealing Experience” talks about how lighting
in different parts of the world look different depending on the season and time of day but when you live
in a particular area for a long time, you begin to expect certain patterns of light in the sky. This is certainly
true for me as I have lived in Virginia my entire life and I can almost predict light patterns. If
It has been a rainy day, it gets darker later in the day much sooner than if it had been a clear, sunny day.
If it has been a hot and humid summer day, the air looks much hazier and the light does not feel as
powerful.I had never heard of the term “Genius loci” before but after reading more about it and how the
spirit of a place and its lighting are interconnected, I believe that it is true. Lighting, in my opinion, can give
a space or place an almost “holy” feeling. An experience i've have with genius loci that I’ve had somewhat
recently was visiting Maymont park in early spring around 4pm. There weren't many people out so the park
was quiet and serene. I remember seeing the bright sun through a colonnade and in that moment, the park
felt sacred.

Lighting Revealing Experience by Marietta Millet from the book Light Revealing Architecture, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1996.