P R E F A C E
Guardatevi dal dir loro che talvolta città diverse si succedono sopra lo stesso suolo e sotto lo stesso nome, nascono e muoiono senza essersi conosciute, incomunicabili tra loro [...]
Italo Calvino, Le città invisibili (Maurilia)
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Introductory statement
This research was developed from the idea of the im- portance of light in the space perception. From this point of view, it aims to give designers a tool to design quality.
After winning a scholarship (Bando per Tesi all’estero, 2015), the main part of the project was developed du- ring a four months period (from October 2015 to Fe- bruary 2016) at the Eindhoven University of Technology within the Unit of Building Physics and Services under the supervision of Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Alexander L. P.
Rosemann (Chairman of the Building Lighting ) and ir.
Juliëtte van Duijnhoven. In the following months the project was depeened within the University of Pisa, un- der the supervision of Prof. Ing. Francesco Leccese (for the lighting aspects) and Prof. Avv. Raffaello Cecchetti (for the sociological aspects).
Problem description
Light enables us to experience the space (Wäns- tröm Lindh, 2012).
Within this short phrase there are three subjects which
Keys of the research problem
LIGHT
PEOPLE
SPACE
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are the three keys of the problem: light, people and space.
• Light is not only a means through which we just see a space but it is also a way to change our perception of that space.
• Us, people, the society. We experience the everyda life within spaces, influenced by the environment conditions.
• Space is where we live in: from a city, to a square, from a park to an office.
The spatial sociology explores the relation between space and society: all social life exists in space.
A space becomes a social phenomenon, or social space, once people begin to use it, boundaries are put on it and meanings are attached to it (Gans, 2002). If we under- stand how people act in a space, we will be able to design customised spaces for people. This would be the final aim of architecture: to build for people.
The missing piece in this reasoning is the role of light.
If light enables us to experience space in a different way, it is logical that it enables us to live space in different way: different interpretations, different choices, diffe- rent behaviours. Same space does not always have similar effects on everyone; the same building can impact people in various way, and it may have no effect at all on other’s (Gans, 2002).
Kevin Lynch in his book The image of the city (Lynch, 1960) develops a methodology to understand how people perceive, inhabit and move around in the urban landsca- pe. He shows that urban space is not just composed of its physical characteristics but equally by representations in mental images. Architects and designers use the Lynch’s analysis before designing, to better understand what in the space need to be modified.
He analyses three cities using two principal methods:
• The interview of a small sample of citizens with regard to their image of the environment (the interview consist in a request for sketch map of the city, the description of a numbers of trips through the city, the description and valuation of the parts felt to be most distinctive..)
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• The examination of the environmental imaged evoked in observer in the field (to compare to the findings of the interviews to help to developing some suggestions for urban design)
All this material would finally be synthesized in a series of reports which give the basic public image of the area, the general visual problems and strengths, the critical elements and element interrelations, with their detail qualities and possibilities for change. On such an analy- sis, a plan for the future visual form of a place could be based.
Research questions
Can and in what way light influence peo- ple’s evaluation, perception and image of spaces?
• Do lighting assessments which integrate Lynch’s methodology exist?
• How can we define lighting assessments which integrate Lynch’s methodology?
• How can we adapt this light pattern to any space described by Lynch’s categories?
Aim and relevance
The aim of this research is to understand if light can influence human perception of spaces.
Explore how the distribution of light in spaces affects how spatiality is experienced, how spatial dimensions are received and the atmosphere is experienced. We need to understand spaces in relation to light, and how spaces are shaped by the distribution of light (Wänström Lindh, 2012) through people’s choices.
Since every place can be described with these categories, if we refer light to Lynch’s methodology we can create a light pattern adaptable to any spaces. So the aim would be to integrate Lynch’s methodology with lighting asses- sments. Knowing how people use space can contribute
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to user-friendly architectural design and spatial planning (Gans, 2002).
We need to know more about how the final design will be experienced in a real environment and to gain knowledge about other’s experiences and interpretations.
