There has been graceful fight occurring for the past 4.5 billion years, the estimated age of the Earth. It’s a fight between light and darkness. Only since Thomas Edison invented and mass produced the long-lasting, practical electric light bulb in the late 1800’s that this balance between light and darkness has begun to shift. Now instead of only receiving light from the sun, we are now transmitting it back to space, as seen in the photo below.
I am personally a big a fan of light and designing with light, both natural and artificial. I come from a photographic background, so without light form cannot be made. Like a Rembrandt painting, the lighting has to be perfect and true to form. However, like Rogier Van Der Heide in the video demonstrates, there are new technologies that could be implemented to everyday society. For example, LED lights give off enough light for us to see, but not enough light to be transmitted back to the sky thus preserving a balance between light and darkness. How awe-inspiring would it be to stand in the middle of Time Square and still be able to see every star in the sky with great clarity as if you were in Alaska or Montana?
The same is true when it comes to interiors of homes, businesses, or even yachts. Every space entered has to be a balance between light and darkness. It’s like the movie K-PAX featuring Kevin Spacey as an alien who embodies a mentally ill patient. The planet he comes from called K-PAX there is only twilight – a nice even light between light and darkness. In a practical world, we might not only want to live in twilight, but also be able to switch lighting scenes to balance the time of day or even the mood we might be in.
Since we live in an age where we are able to put light in any environment we want, it is tremendously beneficial to take it to the next levels of design and control, and make our lighting systems work in a harmonious rhythm of natural life and form. New technologies like the light bulb have changed the world. I say it’s time to change the world again with thoughtful design across all walks of life- rural, suburban, urban as well as residential, commercial, and marine structures. Like everyone else, I want to be able to enjoy every space I happen to enter at any given time of day or location. As a society, I think we are capable of taking it to the next level of human engineering and imagination.
At AHT Residential, we work with many designers to perfect their design idea and goals. If you are a design firm and would like to collaborate with us, feel free to drop us a line anytime. We welcome new industry relationships.
This post was inspired by the lecture of Rogier Van Der Heide: “Why light needs darkness,” that was featured on ted.com. If you are unfamiliar with TED.com, they are dedicated to spreading big ideas. I highly recommend checking their website out if you haven’t before. In a day where quality content is lacking, they are producing top-notch material.