Art Workshop : contextual architecture in light

Abstract

Architecture today is misunderstood. This statement does not engage in the tectonic, programmatic, systemic or contextual aspects of the art, but involves the presence of architectural meaning and experience. Therefore this depravity does not apply to the general public alone, but also to us, the architects. If we don’t understand architecture, how could we begin to understand our relation to it? I believe that this is because much of today’s architecture doesn’t have the tools to reveal itself. In most religions there is a spiritual significance to light. In the Christian faith, scripture reveals our relationship to light. The Gospel of John 12:35b says: "walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth’’. In the context of the scriptures, man orientates himself in this world by way of light/God (1 John 1:5 – God is light, and in Him is no darkness). This is where he finds his identity and how he understands his existence. If Light (nature and character of God, whole being) is not present, he cannot understand living, nor find meaningful discourse in it. In Silence and Light Louis Kahn (2005) says that with Architecture, the religion is light, it is the giver of all presence, it gives room to the day and brings the season into the room. In our existence that we skillfully conduct amid the biosphere and the first heaven, the matter of architecture and light is very significant. Everyone understands light on a subconscious level; it is ingrained in our composition. Light was created as a precondition for life. Louis Kahn (Silence and Light, 2005) states that everything is spent light, even our bodies.