Carpe noctem ‘seize the night’

Although the considered application of shadow is part of a lighting designer’s toolbox, the inclusion of darkness is not often given a high priority. It is easy to forget the benefits of darkness when it is a situation that is difficult to experience in our contemporary world. More importantly, darkness is not seen as desirable. We banish darkness from within our designs in order to resolve issues of safety and visibility. However, lighting design should not be about quelling darkness, its inclusion in a project should be necessary and encouraged.

In our culture, we’re taught to fear the darkness. It’s built into myth, popular culture and has always been associated with evil in religion. In the Bible, darkness was one of the plagues. The Qur’an has been interpreted to say that those who transgress the bounds of what is right are doomed to “burning despair and ice-cold darkness”. And the Hindu goddess Kalí is also closely associated with darkness and violence.
Apart from the negative connotations that darkness is associated with and the general sense of panic and concern for safety that a lack of light can create, it can also have a strong psychological impact. It can cause depression in people with seasonal affective disorder, fear in nyctophobics or comfort in lygophilics.

Over the last few centuries, the amount of time that we sleep has declined greatly. This is partly due to the triumph of light. Electricity made it possible for the first time in history for humans to vanquish darkness. Previously for all but the very wealthy, the onset of darkness brought the works of daytime to a definitive end. Activities that need illumination subsided with the light. People retreated to their homes and engaged in other activities: storytelling, sex, prayer, sleep, dreaming.

As is visible in satellite photographs of the world at night, there is currently very little darkness left. And, of course, the less darkness available, the more we distance ourselves from our basic diurnal rhythms. Although the popular axiom ‘light is life’ is indisputable, darkness is also required to sustain our circadian rhythms and to keep our connection to the natural universe.

Untamed artificial light has a detrimental effect on the environment. The increasing amount of urban light pollution is an unacceptable waste of energy and masks our experience of the night sky. Darkness allows us to reconnect with the night and reinstate our view of stars. Dark skies are also necessary for many species of wildlife from protecting moths and bats to regulating milk production in cows. The natural cycle of day and night also needs to be retained for ecology as a whole with trees and other flowers and fauna detrimentally effected by the erosion of natural darkness.

It goes without saying that less light equals less energy use. This is an important consideration as every decision we make should concern efficiency. Kauro Mende sums this up in a recent interview: “We need to enjoy light again with a minimum of light like before the 19th Century and review the culture of brightness equals happiness in the 20th Century. We need to recapture artistic shadowing and darkness created with a purpose.” We should be discussing less light and no light at all within our energy debates.

Artistically, darkness can also be used to emphasise or contrast with light. The chiaroscuro effect is essential for drama and variety within a lighting scheme.

The first example of a consideration of dark design is the lighting master plan for Kungliga (Royal) Djurgarden in Stockholm, Sweden undertaken by Ehjed Design. This is an area of the city that integrates small traditional residential areas with wide open parks and nature reserves. “We have defined the areas of nature reserves where we want to keep the darkness. The lighting master plan is therefore not only planning lighting but also planning darkness,” comments Deike Canzler. The strategy identifies the rhythm of activities in the area and applies them to a lighting design. The wildlife areas naturally fall within the quiet troughs and thus will remain in darkness.

The second example is the Light and Dark Strategy by Speirs and Major Associates for Durham. Durham consists of a combination of dark areas of natural landscape in close proximity to the illuminated city centre. It remains one of the UK’s few cities that is not over-lit which provided a special opportunity for Speirs and Major to effect a name change from the original commission and include the ‘Dark’ part of the title. This reflected their belief that the illumination of an environment is about the consideration of both what is lit and what is left unlit.

The strategy aims to limit its environmental impact and to protect the darkness of the natural landscape within and around the city, enabling the people of Durham to once again enjoy a view of the stars and to protect the local wildlife and their habitats. Measures to achieve this are clearly outlined with proposals to reduce light spill and the introduction of control to impose curfew times on the schemes proposed.

There is evidence that the prophets of the Old Testament, ancient Greek philosophers like Pythagoras and Tibetan Buddhists retreated into darkness for extended periods of time. In the quiet and solitude of darkness, prophets are said to have experienced visions revealing profound truths of existence thus achieving “enlightenment”.
Like the dark retreats of the prophets, we should not only seek to rediscover the metaphysical dark, thus creating an opportunity to heighten our senses and gain a greater sense of clarity about the world around us but also physical darkness as it is essential to mankind for our survival. Perhaps we should endeavor to be Professional Light and Dark designers.

This text forms part of a lecture given at Light Middle East as part of the Professional Lighting Designers Light Focus conference.

PLDA UK’S DARK NIGHT
Riding the zeitgeist of embracing darkness, the PLDA held a DARK NIGHT for their April event. This consisted of a trip out of the urban sprawl of London to a nearby RSPB reserve to experience a bit of nature and (almost!) dark. Rainham Marshes are one of very few ancient landscapes remaining in London. They were closed to the public for over 100 years, used as a military firing range and were acquired by the RSPB in 2000. The evening comprised a short talk by the Campaign for Dark Skies followed by star gazing in a surprisingly clear sky, a marshland guided walk and bat watch.
DARK NIGHT was sponsored by WE-EF Lighting Ltd.

www.pld-a.org