Thursday, September 1, 2011

Iar 333-01 The Impact of Light on Health and Welfare

When reading the articles from the Impact of light on Health and Welfare, one of the facts that stood out to me the most was the fact that The lack of lighting can have just as great of a negative effect on people, as light can have a positive effect on people. One result of the negative effects of the lack of lighting is SAD or seasonal affective disorder. Being that this is a disorder that occurs more commonly among people who dwell in locations with longer nights or who are not receiving the proper amount of sunlight, this causes me to believe that light within a place can also create a negative experience. Also according to some of the facts that are presented about night shift nurses having a greater risk of cancer raises a question in my mind about weather or not the people who designed the hospital lighting took into consideration these things. The hospital is often associated with healing but the lighting in this particular place, does not necessarily create a good experience. However I feel that the necessary steps are being taking to correct this problem. Lastly I think that the lack of lighting does have a major impact on the human body and its circadian rhythm. This is supported by the fact that people’s body becomes out of sync with their internal clocks after daylight savings. This is because when the clock is set back an hour things that people would do a at a certain time they now would do at a later time causing to loose the time that they would normally spend doing activities.

Iar 333-01 Light Revealing Experience

According to the reading Light Revealing experience, our experience of light is grounded in places. I find that this statement is true because a location can affect how light is able to affect a how certain place feels and can shape ones views of a place. For example the experience of a person who may be deep in the hart of the Amazon, which is filled with various trees, and plant life that reduces the amount of sunlight that enters into the jungle may vary from a person who lives in a mountainous area that is elevated. If these two were to switch locations the experience would become completely different for each individual based off of what they normally expect from the lighting in the place that they are use to. Designers often take advantage of light in certain places in order to create a desired experience for those who interact with the place. A Gothic Cathedral is an example of how clerestory and stain glassed windows are used to create a more dramatic effect causing one to feel as if they were in a holy place and add to their experience of worship.
In Continuing with this example light also affects the overall aesthetics of how one may view and interact with nature. When receiving the proper amount of lighting as well as grooming grass and other plants began to grow thicker and softer, which often appeals to the human senses like touch. This is why we often see people sprawled out on the grass in more temperate weather. Furthermore light can be used to imitate nature itself through manipulation. This is useful technique if one wanted a space to give the experience of a natural feel. For example in our first year studio one of our final projects was to create a laminar and to explore different forms of light. One of my classmates created a laminar that imitated the way in which light reflects off of water. This created an illusion that would cause one to believe that they were actually near water itself.
Climate and lighting also have a major impact on a persons experience in a space. The reading mentions that “in temperate climates, there are few thermal restraints, and the interaction between inside and outside are often maximized.” I felt like this was similar to what I discussed with Tina in class on last Thursday. When asked what does light tell us about climate, I replied that more than likely one would attempt to open a space up to allow more lighting and create an experience of merging the interior with the exterior. I feel as if there were less light it would give one the experience of being closed in simply because when I hear lighting the first thing I think of is natural sunlight.
One thing that I wanted to note was that when it comes down to light and how it affects time, I feel that it has the same affect on when and how people do a task. For example we know that scientifically we are technically supposed to have three meals a day. Going by this one would be able to say that a task such as breakfast would take place while the sun is rising from the east, lunch would be eaten at noon when the sun is at its peak and giving off the most natural lighting, and dinner would be held as the sun sets. This is why when events like Daylight savings occur it often sets a persons sense of timing off because depending on how they schedule themselves they would have to perform these tasks at a later or earlier time.
I feel that light itself plays a crucial role in everything that we do because it is often affecting how we experience things. This includes the way we view places and nature, how we feel in certain climates and at certain times, and also how and when we perform certain task. Lighting is an essential part of both nature and the human life, whether it is natural or man made lighting.