Theory of Architecture II
03.03.2017
Lecture 2: Light
Names: Abbot Suger, Gernot Böhme, James Turrell, Tadao Ando
Terms: transcendental, atmosphere
Buildings/Images:
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Basilica of Saint Denis, Paris, reconstruction commissioned by abbot Suger, 12
century AD
Tadao Ando, The Church of Light, Japan, 1989
Tadao Ando, The Chichu Art Museum, Japan, 2004
James Turrell, Roden Crater, Arizona, 1978-today
Questions:
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How abbot Suger’s interest in the theology of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite
influenced his vision of the reconstruction of Saint Denis? What role did light play
in this theology? What relationship between the material and the divine did it
create?
How light, according to Peter Zumthor, contributes to creating an atmosphere?
What is the object of Turrell’s work? In what way does his work bring together
the natural and the transcendental?
How Ando understands light in his Church of Light? Compare it to the traditions
of sacral architecture, phenomenological architecture, and environmental
(perceptual) art.