Discourse by James Carpenter
Although we have generally reduced our thinking about vision to optics, it is worth keeping in mind the earliest thoughts on vision and perception – the doctrines of Democritus and later the Greek atomist, Epicurus, as described by Lucretius, put forward the notion that vision and recognition occur in the middle ground between self and object. Considering these ancient interpretations of perception has led me to the contemporary notion of light as ‘information’, most effectively manifested by glass. Glass, as the most mutable substrate, allows for both the transmission of light and the revelation of usually unacknowledged light phenomena.
We can understand that there are, in the simplest interpretation, two levels of light as ‘information’ that tell us about our world. There is the conscious observation that becomes the framework for our memory and then there is unacknowledged visual information that becomes the substance of our dreams. In this view of light, occupying our conscious and unconscious selves, glass can clarify the most subtle of phenomena, making visible the subconscious act of perception and cognition, and suggesting that beyond interpreting the world, we have access to our memories and dreams.
The general idea that the ephemeral can be central to heightened experience of a place paradoxically requires the fullest engagement in that place’s materiality. This is a process that demands precision across many fields of study, which is why collaboration is at the core of this process. The key to the successful project’s development is focused experimentation, animation and construction of physical models and mock-ups. Light is simply the most visible form of energy, but it naturally extends to the other forms of energy, such as thermal and sound energy.
This control of energy is ultimately about the human experience and a constructed and functional environment is necessarily sensitive to the human condition. We aim to push beyond the typical concerns of light as it is perceived reflecting off the surface of architecture – dark or light, shiny or matt.
Controlling the transparency, reflectivity and translucency of glass with optical and physical methods, such as applying films and coatings, we display light itself, layering views of the world, with their synthesised versions, as if revealing the act of perception itself.