Tricks of Light

Lighting effects don't always have to come from lights themselves. Following on from my earlier post on lamps and standing lights, I have since found some beautiful images from different houses around the world that show different ways to play with light. See what you think ...

www.e-architect.co.uk

What a wonderful play of light with this decorative biscuit-shaped, untreated Iroko Tree wood curtain wall over glass in 'The Biscuit House' in Lyon, France by architect Pierre Minassian.

www.e-architect.co.uk

Another view of The Biscuit House -this time from the outside where, from a distance, the wood curtain looks rather like a lace doily screen.

www.e-architect.co.uk

A potentially bland black outdoor screen is jazzed up and reformed with the cut-out outline of a tree to provide filtered light and snippets of the view on the other side. Called the Barrow House it was designed by architect, Andrew Maynard, and is in Melbourne. Photo Peter Bennetts.

www.contemporist.com

Indian design firm, Morphogenesis, have used white string curtains to effect in this residence where light is tempered and the view diffused. Design for Use have curtains like these in red, orange, lime green, black and white. They may not offer much privacy or thermal properties but I think they look cool!

http://www.e-architect.co.uk/

A window design that mirrors the timber ceiling and follows the form of the stairs on one wall provides for dramatic plays of light in this Chilean house by architect Enrique Browne. The grand tree inside offers dappled light and mirrors the established trees in the garden outside. Photo Luis Poirot.

For similar outdoor screens to the one at the Barrow House, Urban Balcony in Sydney have some stunning ones like this Flower Tower, as well as decorative screens, sculptures and pots.