Designing With Light

Glass tubing design allows natural light to illuminate the SC Johnson headquarters building (Frank Lloyd Wright, 1936). Photo Credit:Mark Hertzberg
Glass tubing design allows natural light to illuminate the SC Johnson headquarters building (Frank Lloyd Wright, 1936). Photo Credit:Mark Hertzberg

Designing With Light

By Christopher Shuttlesworth

Frank Lloyd Wright Trust, a leading national Frank Lloyd Wright nonprofit organization, will hosts its “Designing With Light” symposium on Oct. 1, and discuss the vital role light plays in the architectural field at the Chicago Cultural Center, located at 78 E. Washington St.

Frank Lloyd Wright Trust Curator David Bagnall, said the “Designing With Light” symposium is part of the Trust’s ongoing signature series “Thinking Into the Future,” which has been presented for the past six years.

“The program was designed to gain a perspective on how both historian and contemporary practitioners have used light when designing buildings and spaces,” he said.

Frank Lloyd Wright, an American architect, called light the “beautifier of

buildings,” according to Frank Lloyd Wright Trust press release.

Bagnall said light continues to be an essential piece in the work of architecture because it is a tool that helps define space within buildings or public spaces.

“When you think about architecture you may not anticipate how important both natural and artificial light are to a building,” he said.

Bagnall added during the Designing With Light program three leading voices, which include Author, photographer and historian Mark Hertzberg, French lighting designer Hervé Descottes and Thai Architect Kulapat Yantrasast, will share their personal ideas on the importance of light in the school of architecture.

Bagnall highlighted that Author Hertzberg will discuss Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterful use of glass and natural light at the SC Johnson Administration Building in Racine, Wisconsin. Descottes, cofounder of L’Observatoire International, which is a lighting design firm in New York City, will elaborate on the importance of lighting in the public realm.

Also, Yantrasast, founding partner and creative director at the Los Angeles-based design firm wHY, will share his experiences with light in designing museums, art galleries and installations, including permanent collections galleries at the Art Institute of Chicago and Skylanding by

Yoko Ono in Jackson Park.

For more registration information about the event, you can view at flwright.org/ThinkingIntotheFuture.

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