Spaces of the device: Camera Obscura

Abstract

The use of light in architecture presents two critical factors that can be applied for experiencing space when designing. The most intimately known is when the designer or artist uses light to invoke emotion through shadow and colour in the built environment, such as where light conducts a critical role in the design and the perception of space. Cameras, like eyes, receive light and translate them into an understandable medium, such as onto film. The Camera Obscura, a device changed through the centuries for scientific and artistic purposes, provides a useful lens for understanding the uses of light. Studying the origin and evolution of the camera and its impact on art and architecture presents a reimagined architectural form for daylighting design. To showcase this connection, the proposed buildings for this thesis will be an artist residency and an exhibit on optics. These two programs will be connected through their commonalities regarding daylighting. The light and optics exhibit will repurpose a building into a space fit for learning the functionalities of light and optics. The artist residency will have living quarters for up to two artists and a dynamic studio workshop that will be adaptable to suit the needs of the art. The studio space will then act as a showcase for the artists’ works. The proposed buildings, named The Camera, and The Periscope Tower, will attempt to be dynamic structures that can adapt the lighting to the users’ needs.