Light and shadow in creating the living spaces

Light and shadow in creating the living spaces

Although many theoreticians have been dealing with phenomenological architecture for years, there is still no specific guide for phenomenology in architecture in practice, and the debates are limited to criticizing and analyzing the existing architectures.

Therefore, this thesis tries to introduce practical ways in phenomenological architecture. For that, the work studies the concept of place in Heidegger's existential approach to being and Nishida's nothingness. Then it introduces Suhrawardi’s school of illumination and suggests that the relationship between dwellers and living space is rooted in the principality of light. The debate endeavors to illustrate how light and shadow as a concept could help to create a dynamic interaction between human and place. This concept is introduced as a path-breaking notion in the realization of phenomenological architectural theories. It refers to both the physical and semantic relationship between brightness and darkness, bringing up the in-between and uncertain spaces in which shadows, darkness, and brightness constantly exchange their positions.