THRESHOLDS OF LIGHT
This project is a spatial and temporal study of light, both natural and artificial, within the boundaries of a single room. Using my own living space as the subject, the work investigates how illumination transforms perception, mood, and activity throughout the course of a day. By tracing the shifting dialogue between light and shadow, it explores how architecture choreographs the passage of time and reveals the subtle interplay between presence and absence.
The study began with an examination of natural light entering through a south-facing window. Through photographic surveys, diagrammatic mapping, and sectional drawings, I documented the way sunlight travelled across surfaces, diffused through textures, and reflected within the enclosure. Each moment, morning, midday, and afternoon, revealed a distinct spatial quality that influenced how the room was used and inhabited. The study area, bathed in direct light, encouraged activity and focus, while the sleeping area, located furthest from the window, embraced darkness and calm.
As daylight faded, artificial light took over as the primary medium shaping perception. The analysis continued through a series of nocturnal mappings, recording how different light sources such as ceiling fixtures, desk lamps, and small spotlights redefined the character of the space. The transition from day to night was not merely functional but emotional; light and shadow became agents of atmosphere, altering the room’s rhythm and the user’s state of mind.
The project acts as a reflective narrative on the inherent architecture of light. It reveals how illumination and obscurity coexist as equal forces, and how their threshold, that fleeting balance between brightness and darkness, gives depth and meaning to our sense of space.
Ultimately, Thresholds of Light frames the room as both instrument and stage for the performance of everyday life. It proposes that understanding light is not only a matter of physical study but a form of spatial empathy, a way of seeing how time, material, and emotion converge within the most ordinary of rooms.
