Date of Award
Spring 5-30-2017
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Architecture (MArch)
Department
Architecture
First Advisor
Jonathan Knowles
Second Advisor
Emanuel Admassu
Abstract
Buildings are designed for a specific purpose. A library has large open rooms to accommodate bookshelves, schools have classrooms and auditoriums for groups of students, businesses have offices and conference rooms, homes have bedrooms and living rooms, and so on. In each situation, conventional architecture would start by establishing the boundaries of the site, defining the 2 dimensional floor plan, and then introduce other secondary aspects, such as circulation & light, which eventually create a coherent and cohesive 3 dimensional space.
In my thesis I wanted to explore the reverse process to emphasize the importance of light. I wanted to define the space using light as a 3 dimensional medium, which would create the volumes for my programs.
Light is not as stationary as the established boundaries of a site. It’s moves with time and changes intensity throughout the day and can be used as a tool to choreograph the user’s ephemeral experience as they navigate through the site. Just as light adapts to different surfaces, this design methodology can be adapted to different sites.
Recommended Citation
Zhen, Alice M., "A tale of lights : light as the visual construct of the ephemeral space" (2017). Masters Theses. 188.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/188
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.