11th EAEA Envisioning Architecture: Design, Evaluation, Communication Conference in 2013

Track 2 | Experiential Simulation | The sensory perception of the built environment

Biophysical and cultural nightscapes: the three protocols for sensorial perception and representation of an artificial day

ABSTRACT

We propose a description and analysis of three methodological procedures aimed at representing/visualizing the perceptions of artificial lighting in the parks of La Villette (Paris) and Gerland (Lyon) Building on our exploration of the cultural-biophysical dialectic of landscape (Farhat 2011a, 2011b), and developing our previous observations (Robert et al, 2012), we concentrate on spatiotemporal attributes of nightscape perception and representation. We argue that the potentialities ensuing from nocturnal illumination of parks and gardens are still under-exploited. We uphold that nocturnal urbanity in such areas features variability in breadth and depth based on continuity and disruption of light and color spectra. We eventually contend that aesthetic and utilitarian considerations in urban nightscape design and planning should take into account biophysical effects of artificial light on flora and fauna. Protocol-specific findings of this inquiry confirm that nightscapes are functionally sophisticated, formally instable, and morphologically fragile ecologies resulting from fortuitous yet recurring interplays between natural luminosity, artificial lighting solutions, and the resilience of the city’s living, built bodies, and their kinetics and cultural dynamics.

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AUTHORS

Pauline Robert

LéaV/UVSQ, Laboratory of Architectural Research, ENSAV, Versailles, France

Georges Farhat

J.H. Daniel’s Faculty, University of Toronto, Canada and LéaV, ENSAV, Versailles, France.

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