Discover five stand-out projects from The Art of Architectural Daylighting by Mary Guzowski, published by Laurence King

During the past decade, there has been a enormous growth in daylighting analysis methods, allowing designers to meet ever higher standards. But in relying too heavily on these methods, there is a risk of reducing daylighting design to a quantitative exercise that overlooks the qualitative, aesthetic, and experiential aspects of architecture. The Art of Architectural Daylighting by Mary Guzowski reveals how architects have bridged the poetic and practical potential of daylighting to create exquisitely illuminated spaces. The book examines 12 buildings using photographs, drawings, plans, and specially created technical analysis diagrams. Featured architects include Tadao Ando & Associates, Allied Works Architecture, Undurraga Devés Architects, Sverre Fehn, and Avanto Architects.

Project: Ando Museum, Honmura, Japan
Architect: Tadao Ando, Tadao Ando & Associates

Located in Honmura, the Ando Museum by Tadao Ando & Associates is contained within a reconstructed 100-year-old minka and comprise a series of contemporary concrete exhibition spaces. Visitors move from the historic streetscape into the traditional house, discovering a sequence of daylit galleries that culminate in a quiet underground meditation chamber. The small-scale and intimate qualities of the site heighten the juxtaposition of old and new, with spaces progressively transforming from traditional to contemporary. A conical skylight above the underground meditation space is hidden from view by a floating ceiling plane. The narrow gap between the ceiling plane and the walls enhance the luminous contrast and sense of mystery. A hidden structural frame anchors the ‘hovering’ concrete ceiling to a roof structure above the ceiling.

Project: Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, USA
Architect: Brad Cloepfil, Allied Works Architecture

The Clyfford Still Museum is located in the heart of Denver’s arts community, just south of the Civic Center Park and west of the Colorado State Capital. Housing the work of a single artist, the museum’s mission is to advance the understanding and appreciation of Clyfford Still’s art and legacy through presentation, research, interpretation, preservation and stewardship. Daylight is an integral aspect of the programme. The threshold between two toplit galleries, shown above, illustrates the even, diffuse daylight that is filtered through the skylight monitors and interior perforated concrete ceiling screen.

Project: Chapel of Retreat, Calle Larga, Chile
Architect: Christian Undurraga, Undurraga Devés Architects

The Chapel of Retreat, designed by Cristián Undurraga of Undurraga Devés Architects (UDA), is adjacent to the Carmelite Monastery of Auco and the Sanctuary of Teresa of the Andes in Calle Larga, Chile. The site is bordered to the east by the Andes Mountains and to the west by a coastal mountain range and the Pacific Ocean. The chapel, in which pilgrims experience a cave-like subterranean space surrounded by stone walls and gardens, acts as a counterpoint to the mountainous landscape. With structural loads carried to the perimeter of the subterranean landscape void, the timber cladding and structural glass walls appear to float within a volume of light. The hidden structure provides a sense of mystery and timelessness.

Project: Ulltveit Moe Pavilion, National Museum, Oslo, Norway
Architect: Sverre Fehn, Manthey Kula Architects

In 2008 The National Museum in Oslo moved into a newly renovated and expanded museum complex designed by Sverre Fehn. The Pavilion of Light is located on the open southern portion of the site, protected to the north by the historic buildings. This image shows an interior view of the temporary installation ‘Ode to Osaka’ by Manthey Kula Architects, which was located within the pavilion’s four concrete columns during the summer of 2015. Conceived as a reinterpretation of Sverre Fehn’s competition proposal for the Scandinavian pavilion at the 1970 World Fair in Osaka, the inflatable fabric structure with a timber-framed entry airlock elevated the contrasting luminous, structural and spatial qualities of the pavilion and temporary installation.

Project: Chapel of St Lawrence, Vantaa, Finland
Architect: Anu Puustinen and Ville Hara, Avanto Architects

Sited adjacent to the medieval stone Church of St. Lawrence in Vantaa, Finland (1450), the new Chapel of St. Lawrence has a quiet presence designed to support funerary activities and religious events in the community. Ville Hara and Anu Puustinen of Avanto Architects thoughtfully considered the scale, form, materials and detailing of the chapel to create a respectful architectural conversation with the historic church and cemetery. Here, soft diffuse daylight combines with intimate candle light to provide a quiet space of reflection within the private viewing room on the lower level.

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The Art of Architectural Daylighting by Mary Guzowski is available from the Laurence King website now. Architecture Today readers can purchase a copy with a special 35 per cent discount using the code ARCHTODAY35 at checkout (RRP £50).