15 a) Read the texts and summary questions below:
1. What does capacity for change lead to?
2. What natural changes are mentioned?
3. What is said about modeling of a shape?
4. What is the most usual daylight modelling derived from?
5. What is the role of change and modelling in daylighting?
| CHANGE
Capacity for change leads to the infinite variety in appearance of the daylit interior. Change is at the heart of daylighting, the human body has a capacity for adaptation, particularly in vision, and the need to exercise this response.
Perception reacts to a degree of change; it is the natural order of things that the appearance of interior spaces alter with time; an entirely different measure of experience to the static qualities of spaces lit entirely by artificial sources of light during the day; or where there is no access to the daylight outside.
There is a natural process of renewal in the photochemical processes of the eye as it adapts to accommodate changes in daylight. First there is the natural change from day to night, from first light until dark and the need for artificial sources to take over when daylight fades. Then there are the changes associated with changes of the weather; from bright sunny days to dark and cloudy or rainy days, there is little doubt that the human spirit soars when rising in the morning on a bright day, an experience which is less likely to happen when it is dark and gloomy outside. Closely associated with changes in the weather are those of the changes of season, from the winter snows to summer sunlight. The world outside, as experienced through the window, provides necessary information of the variety of the exterior world; whilst leading to subtle changes in the appearance of the interior.
| MODELLING
Modelling of a shape derives from its physical form, whether round, square or otherwise, coupled with the way in which light plays on its surfaces. This is referred to as its modelling and when this derives from daylight or sunlight, giving light from a single direction, this provides a form which is perceived by the eye as having meaning, unambiguous. This is a different experience again from the form of an object or space resulting from a room lit by artificial light, where the overall light may be received from a multitude of light sources. The most usual daylight modelling is that derived from vertical windows at the side of a room, giving light from a single direction; this may be helped by windows from an adjacent wall which adds to the modelling; as the light will still be from the same overall direction, but adding to the total modelling. Two examples might be used to emphasize this, the first, a Greek Doric column where the light of day gives modelling to the entasis on the rounded surfaces of the column; light which emphasizes its particular rounded quality together with its verticality. The second example is the original David statue by Michelangelo seen in its setting in the art gallery in Florence, lit from daylight above, where the form changes in time as the day goes by. Daylight by its nature gives meaning and aids our understanding of a shape or space by its directional flow. Interior spaces are judged to be pleasant, bright or gloomy as a result of the effects of modelling and interiors are judged by the way in which the spaces and the objects within them are seen during the day to be natural, or accord to our experience of the natural world.
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