Architecture and Light

Basic Principles for Designing with Daylight

Capanni Fabio

Light is the soul of space, a breath that runs through it and gives it life. It chases the shadows relentlessly in a ritual that makes the passing of time visible. Architecture is, above all else, the implementation of this ritual, which ignites the dialectic between the immobility of space and the dynamic action of light, between the finiteness of the dimensions and the incommensurability of the natural element, and between the concreteness of the material and the abstraction of the vacuum. This book attempts to outline some basic principles that govern the relationship between daylight and architectural space to place it at the centre of the architect's work.

About the Author

Fabio Capanni (b. Florence, 1965) is Full Professor of Architectural and Urban Design at DIDA, the Department of Architecture of the University of Florence, where he received his PhD in 2000. He has collaborated with the international magazine Materia and was editor of the international magazine Area; at present he is a member of the Scientific Committee of Firenze Architettura, a magazine published by the Department of Architecture of the University of Florence. His works have won awards and been published in leading national and international journals. He is co-founder of ReThink Daylight, an initiative to promote the role of daylight in architectural projects.

Back to the list of books