Mary Ann Steane "Dark thoughts: light and architecture since electricity"

Duration: 1 hour 23 secs

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Description:	Abstract: In 1924, during the decade in which electricity first became readily available throughout Europe and the U.S., and accompanying the rise of international modernism, Le Corbusier made his sweeping declaration 􀀁Architecture is the learned game, correct and magnificent, of forms assembled in light􀀂. This lecture explores how the topic of natural light has guided architectural ambitions since. By offering a series of reflections on the relationship between words and practice in a range of projects from the last fifty years, it aims to demonstrate the degree to which the treatment of light as a local rather than a universal phenomenon - i.e. something variable and potentially elusive rather than abstract - has come to inform more recent practice in the art of daylighting. Biography: Mary Ann Steane is an architect by training and a lecturer in Environmental Design at the University of Cambridge. Her research on the use of natural light marries technical analysis with a broader cultural perspective. She examines how architects handle the relationship between movement, space, light and materials, looking closely at how these factors affect perception of and attunement to the visual environment. In connection with these studies her most recent book, The Architecture of Light, was published by Routledge in Spring 2011.

Description:

Abstract: In 1924, during the decade in which electricity first became readily available throughout Europe and the U.S., and accompanying the rise of international modernism, Le Corbusier made his sweeping declaration 􀀁Architecture is the learned game, correct and magnificent, of forms assembled in light􀀂. This lecture explores how the topic of natural light has guided architectural ambitions since. By offering a series of reflections on the relationship between words and practice in a range of projects from the last fifty years, it aims to demonstrate the degree to which the treatment of light as a local rather than a universal phenomenon - i.e.
something variable and potentially elusive rather than abstract - has come to inform more recent practice in the art of daylighting.

Biography: Mary Ann Steane is an architect by training and a lecturer in Environmental Design at the University of Cambridge. Her research on the use of natural light marries technical analysis with a broader cultural perspective. She examines how architects handle the relationship between movement, space, light and materials, looking closely at how these factors affect perception of and attunement to the visual environment. In connection with these studies her most recent book, The Architecture of Light, was published by Routledge in Spring 2011.


Created:	2012-01-13 12:29
Collection:	Martin Centre Research Seminar Series - 2011 Michaelmas Term
Publisher:	University of Cambridge
Copyright:	M.Steane - Martin Centre
Language:	eng (English)

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