Page 61 - Between light and shade

Light, transparency and reflection

nist, exaggerate the space’s outlines. The pattern
that I have chosen is made up of sloping lines
inclined at ¾ from the horizontal, positioned
alternately in one direction and the other. In the
first direction, the strips have a constant width of
5 cm with a variation in the gap between them of
between 5 and 15 cm, while in the other direction,
the strips are 7.5 cm wide, with a gap of between
2.5 and 12.5 cm. The distance between the strips
is at its smallest in the centre of the “lantern’s”
surface and increases incrementally as the strips
approach its base or apex, resulting in a reduc-
tion in transparency as the “lantern” expands
and, conversely, an increase in transparency as
it narrows at the top and bottom. The mashra-
biya effect intensifies in the fire escape with a
succession of highly perforated steel sheets, both
hangars and parapets, real curved mantillas
coiling up vertically from one floor to another
behind the convex envelope.

“Coloured mirrors”
With “natural light” having entered the building
with a minimal loss of quality, there it is inside,

number, fifteen lessons on architectural rules), translation by
Dom Xavier Botte, Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1960. This is the only esta-
blished theory relating to the rules governing the proportion
of spaces in relation to visual acuity and human morphology
(see also the works of Gérard Cordonnier, 1924).

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