Monday, February 23, 2009

Gabby Shawcross’s lecture at ASU

Gabby Shawcross’ lecture was different in many ways than other lectures I have been to. In the first few minutes of the lecture two main questions popped in my mind. How sustainable their projects are? And also whether they used light in their design as an ornament or not? Although I got lots of good information from this lecture these questions are still unanswered for me.

At the end of the lecture I was certain that they picked light as a communication tool to make a connection between spaces and people. I believe that is what many architects attempt to achieve in their designs. For example Memory Project in London's Southbank is all about people, spaces and the relationship between them. It is a fascinating idea especially the ability to walk back to the earlier time of the day. Inside the structure, thermal cameras can detect people and show the surrounding of the building in a particular time as a function of people’s position with respect to the screen.

They are also very creative in using light features as an architectural tool. I think by listening to his lecture we could really observe their design philosophy. Also in some projects like Aeolian Tower, and Wind to Light I realized that there is a lot of usable energy in the nature that is not being used appropriately and has lots of potentials to be utilized in our day to day life.

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