Light is a powerful signifier in architecture. One only needs to look at the work of Peter Zumthor, Corbusier, or Renzo Piano to see how architects have used light to produce various atmospheric experiences to signify sacredness, give direction, or suggest warmth. Even the color of light has specific connotations. For example, warm light measuring 3000K suggests a home, hearth, and the first fires. While white light measuring 6000K suggests a hospital, workspace, or cold space. In each of these cases, light is considered an element of design that actively shapes space as much if not more than the surfaces of architecture. In this way, an Architecture of Light is as much about the form of the building as it is about the performance of that building. As you are tasked to design an architecture of light, you must acknowledge that the focus of your design is the light. Given this reality, you must tackle the challenging task of representing something that, in the case of daylight, is constantly changing on diurnal and seasonal cycles. If you are designing light, you should be drawing light. 

Architecture of Light, tasks the students with the design of a single-story 8,000 sqft foot gallery and cafe. Students will organize their programmatic elements around the various and specific light qualities that are required for each of the programs listed below. Taking into account the quantity and quality of light, duration, orientation, form, and performance, students will design an architecture that uses natural daylight as a design element. Students will be expected to construct models and produce drawings, and renderings that demonstrate the relationship between the form and performance of their design. This project and all that follow are intended to be completed as a group consisting of two students.