There's no symmetry in nature. One eye is never exactly the same as the other. There's always a difference. We all have a more or less crooked nose and an irregular mouth.
-Édouard Manet A good client of ours once told me, “Symmetry is overrated. I don’t need a perfectly matching design because that’s not real life.” That struck a chord in me then because it was something I had always thought but actually felt guilty about. Hearing someone as distinguished as he was saying that gave credibility to the concept that I was secretly believing. The truth is, the world we live in is not always symmetric. Quantum physics talks about the symmetry of the universal systems, but every so often, a particle doesn’t line up just right. In fact, light itself exists and acts as a wave AND a particle, thus the symmetry of function and composition is blurred. When we (here at my firm, that is) look at a project, we do not necessarily look for that perfect balance of fixture placement or light uniformity (unless the internal function demands that). Take a walk outside and see brightness and shadows, reflected light affecting color all around. We don’t criticize the world for these differences; we accept them as real and critical parts of our environment. It speaks to our own essence as part of nature. That’s how I look at lighting a space. What is the true nature of an environment that feels natural and accepted? To design a lighting scheme that evokes an appreciation for one’s surroundings that appeals to their visceral emotions is a fantastic feeling and achievement. Now, that being said, I do not advocate all out asymmetry. I’m not a big Picasso fan. A huge chunk of natural forces does behave in symmetric ways, and to many people, symmetry equals order. I do believe that one can honor and utilize symmetry without being enslaved by it and forcing it where it just does not want to be. When lighting a typical office floor in a high rise, will anyone REALLY care that the light fixture is 8’-0” off the wall on one side and 6’-6” on the other? Do all downlights have to be the same datum down all corridors when the architecture and functions may not support it? I have had a mantra in our office: “Only God and bugs really see the world in plan view.” I think if we design from a standpoint of real people occupying a real space with real feelings and experiences, we have hit a better, more natural benchmark. We hit the human benchmark. -PETER
0 Comments
|
Archives
August 2020
Categories |