Light and the Environment

The tree is a weave of light and earth and water.
© 2019 Ian Ritchie

Light is our umbrella against the dark sky.
© 2009 Ian Ritchie

Light falls like the rain from a cloudless sky.
© 2009 Ian Ritchie

Light moves and changes space.
© 2009 Ian Ritchie

Telescopes look backward and microscopes forward, and architects look both ways.
© 2005 Ian Ritchie

The temperature of artificial light becomes colder towards the equator, and warmer towards the Earth’s poles.
© 2005 Ian Ritchie

Light is the opium of the architect and shadow its form.
© 2004 Ian Ritchie

Light may be the opium of the architect, but people, not publications, are the destiny of architecture.
© 2004 Ian Ritchie

Somewhere, there is a snowflake forming, falling and melting while the sun smiles.
© 2003 Ian Ritchie

If you want to fall in love avoid fluorescent lighting.
© 2002 Ian Ritchie

And if you’ve got this far, …even with all the sunshine in the world, there is always one snowflake floating in the air somewhere!
© 2002 Ian Ritchie

Glass is stone, silica, with magical properties.
© 2002 Ian Ritchie

Shadows are holes in light.
© 2001 Ian Ritchie, Light & Shadow Exhibition, Frankfurt

Like an object moving through water, light cuts through shadow only to leave shadows in its wake.
© 2001 Ian Ritchie, Light & Shadow Exhibition, Frankfurt

Light drives away darkness but creates shadows in the process, and these shadows in turn frame the pools of light. 
© 2001 Ian Ritchie, Light & Shadow Exhibition, Frankfurt

If we allow the natural environment to be the instrument of design at all scales, then our designs will be more intelligent and more responsive to our senses. 
© 2001 Ian Ritchie, Introduction to Lichtplanung book, by Ulrike Brandi Licht

Our perception of spaces and surfaces differs greatly between sunlight and moonlight, artificial light and fire or candlelight. 
© 2001 Ian Ritchie, Introduction to Lichtplanung book, by Ulrike Brandi Licht

My empathy lays with the lighting designer who says that the longer we keep the lights switched off the better we feel and the less energy we use. 
© 2001 Ian Ritchie, Introduction to Lichtplanung book, by Ulrike Brandi Licht

I believe that one fundamental reading of the history of architecture is the story of the way light enters into buildings and reveals the spatial composition and forms within.
© 1996 Ian Ritchie, Lecture Munich

Light is the material of architecture.
© 1996 Ian Ritchie

Light will launch future scientific and telecommunications payloads into orbit, and sunlight, as now, will power them.
© 1992 Ian Ritchie, Light Exhibition & Catalogue, Ingolstadt

Photonic elevators to space.
© 1992 Ian Ritchie, Light Exhibition & Catalogue, Ingolstadt

Our earth is simply the natural greenhouse of our solar system home. Architects should recognise this as our model for design.
© 1992 Ian Ritchie

An en-lightened environment is what we all seek, politically, eco-nomically and physically.
© 1982 Ian Ritchie, Paris Biennale

All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish a candle. anon