Project in colaboration with Abigail Benouaich, Christofer Blixt and Tong Liu
Lighting Machine is the main task of the Light and Humans course within the Architectural Lighting Design Master Programme at KTH. The students were requested to build a lighting machine using only two determined lighting fixtures inside a room at an abandoned building that would be demolished in the near future. The room made available to our group is the biggest and the only one among the eight groups that has duplicated windows and doors. It seems to be used in the past as an office space, perhaps with a light partition in the center in order to divide the space in two. The atmosphere is very static, monotonous and even hostile. Although the daylight tends to balance this atmosphere and bring some life to the space, the view from the windows is as monotonous as the indoors: a parking lot, another abanadoned building and a train track.
The concept of our project is to accentuate the double character of the room by creating two opposing environments. One side was illuminated in blue with direct light while the other was illuminated with a warmer color gradient. Each side of the room was separated by a sculptural element reminiscent of a moving demolition wall. Sunlight was blocked. Only one small opening on each of the room was left and covered with blue and red filters in order to enhance the contrast between the two oposite spaces. The visitor should enter through the blue door and observe both sides while immersed in each of the two environments by sitting in the chairs positioned facing each other.
