The Daylight Award Community
Katja Bülow
Associate Professor at Royal Danish Academy, Copenhagen
Daylight fills me with joy and gratitude because of the consistency, variation, and beauty. The sun, the sky and reflected light, nurture and reveal the environment. Knowing that it’s a huge resource, which not only rejoices me – but everybody who wants to enjoy it, and make use of it.
— Katja Bülow
FEATURE
What does daylight mean to you?
Daylight fills me with joy and gratitude because of the consistency, variation, and beauty. The sun, the sky and reflected light, nurture and reveal the environment. Knowing that it’s a huge resource, which not only rejoices me – but everybody who wants to enjoy it, and make use of it. On the other hand, daylight can also be harsh creating glare and heat, it is a natural force which requires consideration when creating buildings and interiors.
How did your interest in the subject rise?
When I began to understand how the orientation of a room and the size and position of windows create a visible pattern of changing light intensities, colors, and shadows within a space. I was fascinated – and I still am – by the way that forms, structures, and material qualities reveal the presence of daylight.
How do you work with daylight in your research?
I mainly work with daylight through architectural case-study analysis, field studies and mapping. I also work to maintain and develop ways to work with daylight in physical models and are looking into artistic research in collaboration with a researcher into ceramic design.
Which project/publication describes your work the best?
The paper “Light Rhythms in Architecture. Integration of Rhythmic Urban Lighting into Architectural Concepts” describes the empiric field I am concerned about, the theoretic positioning and the methodology I developed during my PhD-study. The paper presents how balances of daylight and artificial light in interiors and interiorities can work in close interrelation with the exterior and what this interrelation means to the notion of a place.
According to you, what is the most important focus for the future?
To do everything we can to save the natural eco-systems of the planet, more nature, more plants, more animals – especially the ones close to be wiped out. Using daylight to save energy, to create good viewing conditions and beautiful environments meaningful to people and worth keeping are ways of sustainability, which can help. This requires cooperation and attentive listening between the disciplines within daylighting.
Who or what has inspired you?
It always inspires me to experience daylight in place on-site over a long time. During the corona lockdown I discovered the most beautiful camera obscura phenomena on the wall in my bathroom – didn’t notice it before. Seeing it every day, I discovered how the colours and intensities on the wall changed in a beautiful subtle way according to the outside weather and the positions of the sun.
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