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Modern architecture has meansof bringing daylight to almostanywhere in buildings. Thesemeans, however, are not alwaysused in such a masterly manneras in this building by Louis Kahn.“Light is matter and light is basicmaterial. Once you understandhow light varies, and varies ourperceptions, your architecturalvocabulary is immediately extended,in ways that classicalarchitecture never thought of …an architecture of ephemeralitybecomes possible.”Jean Nouveland has continued to condition our preferencefor natural daylight over artificiallight, irrespective of subsequent scientificinnovations, greater lamp efficiency andsupplementary lighting systems.CONSTRUCTING WITH LIGHTAs human civilisation has expanded fromindividually dispersed buildings to thedense mega-cities of today, the challengeand demand for daylight has becomemore and more competitive. This is trendis likely to gain greater significance as, by2020, 70% of the world’s population willlive in urbanised communities. We havebecome perpetual urban ‘cave’ dwellers,becoming increasingly remote from the‘naturalness’ of daylight (its sequencing,rhythm and rituals) and experiencing aloss in physical and emotional benefits.In part, we have successfully adaptedto this reduction and loss in daylight, byevolving new patterns of living and reconditioningour immediate environments.We have compensated throughplanning legislation (for example by restrictingbuilding heights, legislating forrights to light, and stipulating setbacks onelevations of high-rise buildings), by constructingmore of our buildings with glasselevations and supplementing their interiorswith the use of artificial light sourcesand atria. Yet despite these measures, weconsistently yearn for a return to naturaldaylight, and we have not lost the desirefor daylight to support our fundamentalactivities. In addition, it is becomingincreasingly evident that however wellcontrolled, uniformly lit and efficientartificially illuminated environmentsbecome, they lack the psychological andbiological provisions we need and fail togenerate the desired sense of well-being 2 .We desire light not only for illuminationbut also for the stimulation that can onlybe provided by the sun and daylight.Natural light changes and increasesin intensity throughout the day, and isaltered in effect by climate conditions likecloud cover and sunshine hours. Artificiallight, on the other hand, is not diverse incolour and lacks many of the phenomenologicalqualities that are characteristic ofnatural light effects, due to geographicalfeatures and proximity to water. (Considerthe typical characteristics of the soft,hazy light in Venice, for example). Thelight artist James Turrell has describedthese phenomena as “the area of spatialand optical tension” – the experience ofthe awareness of light that is more thanmerely a source of brightness. 3Given our natural need for daylight,the lack of daylight in our everyday liveshas led to an increasing range of healtheffects and unfavourable psychologicalconditions. Human behaviour is modulatedby the day/night cycle that we candirectly observe through the level of ambientlight. It is also a fact that our contemporarylives are ruled by time and thoughwe use clocks to moderate our actions, ourhuman biology is paced by our ‘circadianclock’, which determines sleep patterns,alertness, mood, blood pressure and thealignment of our experience and metabolismto night and day. Setting our bodyclock to local time is adjusted on a dailybasis by exposure to light, and a failure toengage results in a drift or ‘free running’circadian rhythms, and a disruption inthese cycles. 4Disturbances of this cycle can lead toa range of behavioural anomalies suchas sleep, eating and mood disorders, andin the winter months this can lead to depression.This range of effects suggeststhat a specific light/dark cycle exists forhumans, including temporal and spectralproperties, that optimise and contributeto well-being.The current mode of living is stronglydependent on the use of artificial light andhas tended to isolate us from nature anddaylight to a large extent, particularly incities. There is therefore a contradictionbetween our lifestyle and the ambientcues we need to maintain a balance inour health and sense of well-being.LIGHTNESS OF BEINGThe scientific findings and everyday observationsdiscussed above provide ampleevidence that there is an innate humanneed for daylight, which cannot be adequatelyfulfilled by alternative (artificial)light sources. This raises the question ofhow architecture – and specifically the44 D&A SPRING 2011 Issue 15