Light

The goal of this project was to provide a design for a proposed non-denominational chapel on the Farmingdale State College campus. The College considers this as a deeply spiritual space where people of all religions can pray and meditate on life's events. This, according to the College, can be accomplished through the creative use of light. Different techniques such as backlighting, reflector shields, and light cannons can be used to control the amount of light that enters a building. When curved surfaces are used in a building, beautiful light splashes and unique light patterns can be created.

LIGHT BACKGROUND RESEARCH

LE CORBUSIER
NOTRE DAME DU HAUT

•The Swiss architect’s intention was “to create a place of silence, prayer, peace, and inner joy”.

LIGHT MODELS

SITE ANALYSIS

CIRCULATION

BUILDING HEIGHTS

FUNCTION

SPACES

SUN ANGLES

SUMMER

WINTER

SPRING

FALL

SITE SELECTION

I chose this location because it is not surrounded by many buildings, and this will be an advantage for the design. Furthermore, the structure will get the best of the sunlight which helps to emphasize the design and light relationship. Boxed rooms will be at the north side of the structure, and the chapels will look to the south, east and west side. The main chapel will get the best sunlight from the south side. Also, because this location is not surrounded by other buildings, it will easily catch students’ attention. Therefore, they will spend their time in this new chapel.

W

E

S

HIERARCHY

1. Main Chapel

2. Meditation Chapel

3. Memorial Chapel

4. Secular

SORTING OF SPACE

RELIGIOUS

Main Chapel

Meditation Chapel

Memorial Chapel

SECULAR

Offices

Conference Room

Library

PAST PRECEDENTS

ALVAR AALTO
Seinajoki Library

Alvar Aalto's Seinajoki Library has been an important example for this project. As we followed the theorem of this plan, we used boxed rooms/building for secular program. However, we understand that how to emphasize the new chapels with respect to secular program.

As I have mentioned before, Le Corbusier's Notre Dame Hu Haut helped me to understand how to control light in many ways. He used different size windows to explore light. Every window absorb the natural light and then reflect it with a different angles. Furthermore, he separated the roof from the walls and included louvers on top of the secondary doors. A thin horizontal gap separates the perimeter walls from the roof, thus providing further natural lighting to the chapel’s interior. These 2 very important structures helped me to understand what I need to prioritize in my design.