Light and Geometry:case studies_Coop Himmelab(l)au+Tadao ando
Academic essay
NTUA 2006
Tutor: Andreas Kourkoulas
The comparative study of two buildings from important contemporary architects, The Church Of The Light by Tadao Ando and the UFA Cinema Center by Coop Himmelb(l)au, in relation to the use of light, gives us the opportunity to understand how they conceive the interaction of geometry with light and in what way do their buildings materialize it.
Tadao Ando in his Church creates a “Magic Box” of concrete where with only three main gestures he preserves dim light in the building and at the same time reveals the different qualities of light and shadow from non-material to absolute materiality. That way, through the bursting and dimming of light, he re-invents the substantial ingredients of the relation of man to God and he gives us a space rich in symbolism that transports the user to a transcending reality.
Coop Himmelb(l)au, in their Cinema Center, through the use of complicated geometries create a building that, like a deformed diamond, changes form and gives different shadows in relation to the passing of time and the viewer’s position, just like a real kaleidoscope. The result is a building which, due to its deliberate lack of order, “plays” with the light without forming clear limits and it inserts the user in an environment somewhere between reality and illusion.
