Author Description

This is the second volume of the "Annual of Light and Architecture". Unlike the first one which was more or less devoted to one specific lighting design company, this volume contains a variety of buildings and construction projects with repect to light planning and designing. Three major essays discuss "light" in relation to man, his environment and his architecture. Tadao Ando provides a personal and lyrical philosophy of light and darkness and his use of both to create a profound and spiritual atmosphere in some of his buildings. In a historical context, Gerhard Auer analyzes the various manifestations of urban light and the regrettable decrease of the interplay between light and darkness. This theme is picked up by Helmut Striffler in the third essay, but with emphasis on the architectural structures which allow too much or too little interconnection between light, darkness and space. A variety of countries and architects are represented in the projects and their lighting design. The descriptions of the various buildings and their illumination attempt to provide not only the technical aspects but also the atmosphere which these create.