My thoughts about my final project have changed since exploring bounced color and light. Before I was most interested in how to create “color shadows” (the effects of stained glass but without light penetrating a colored translucent material) but after analyzing the quality of the light at the place of my proposed installation, the south 5th floor windows, I feel the light is much too diffused to create the intensity needed for this bounced color effect This is in part realized by a small test study I have been doing by keeping some panels taped to the window behind my desk.

For this project to be successful, it must engage the space and work with the quality of light that is most common in this space. This means utilizing materials I wasn’t previously considering, such as transparent gels, acrylic, highly reflective surfaces, perhaps even thin metals.

Although I want it to be a sculpture, I want the effect of the light given from the sculpture to be the part that the kitchen users can appreciate. It is in the kitchen where most of the A&AA students observe the weather and it affects the mood of the studio. How can I create a stimulating environment on a cloudy, misty Portland day?

In this I try to reflect on spaces with similar climates that have achieved this goal. I can think of many examples from Scandinavia – places that fit into the category of contrast for dramatic effect ( and places that filter light to produce calm (Jørn Utzon’s Bagsværd Church, Grundtvig Kirke, Myyrmäki church (Norberg-Schulz).

I’ve also appreciated the amount of color Scandinavians welcome into their architecture. These bright colors can enliven an overcast or rainy landscape (Paimio Sanitorium, the city of Bergen, Nyhavn in Copenhagen). In Oregon the idea seems to be blend in with the rain and the clouds, the mist, the gray. I couldn’t disagree more.

If the screen only modulates shadow, light, and color on itself it becomes an object to be looked at, which is not what I believe is the point of architecture. We are aspiring architects because we are interested in the positive effects of the space that we create. Although popular sentiment, I feel influenced by the work of Donald Judd, particularly after visiting his studio and foundation in Marfa, Texas.

Bibliography: 

Archer, Michael. Art since 1960. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2002. Print.

Norberg-Schulz, Christian. Nightlands: Nordic Building. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1996. Print.Norberg-Schulz, Christian. Nightlands: Nordic Building. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1996. Print.