First and foremost, using colour and light in a space is really important because in the field of lighting research it is mostly aimed to solve aspects of visibility and comfort, while in the field of colour attempts have been made to solve the needs of design, style and fashion. Therefore, this project was aimed to help us understand that and use it in a real-life situation which is by picking a spot at OCADU and modifying it using light and colour.
The area I chose was a hallway with windows facing the park outside and many other important features of the area, like the AGO, the CN Tower, and a sculpture that has been a monument of our university for a while now.
The first thing I noticed in the hallway is that it is plain white, which has its advantages being that in the summer there is a lot of sunlight and it makes the hallways this beautiful white area, grabbing the attention of people in the area. However, the disadvantage to the plain whiteness is that in the winter when the days are shorter and we barely get any sunlight. There are 6 large windows in the area, reflecting on a white brick walls with doors for the professor’s offices. Which means the area is only used when needed and by specific people. It also has a couple of displays of the elder painting students.
One of the main aspects I wanted to focus on was the idea of having massive windows on one side of the hallway, and using that as a focus point and making something come out of it. The initial idea was putting a piece of reflective material, or prism like material on the ledge of the window, so that when sunlight comes in, it diffracts it, shooting a rainbow on the opposite wall. Which will give a sense of colour, using light and also emphasize the feeling of the children’s park under, giving a sense of youth and freedom to the hallway.
One obstacle I faced was the sunlight, in the winter, we barely get any sunlight, and even in the summer, when the weather is gloomy or rainy, we don’t get sunlight; which defeats the whole purpose of using the reflective piece on the windows.
Keeping the initial idea of using light to make a rainbow and giving off the feeling of freedom and youth, I thought of another way to mimic a rainbow, and give the sense of light and colour. The idea revolved around painting with watercolour like paints on the walls, pictures of the main aspects you can see out the window, being the AGO, large trees, the sculpture, the kid’s playground, and the CN Tower with some adjacent buildings. They were painted on the part of the wall that is parallel to the window in front of them using watercolours with the colours of the rainbow. In this sense, we get the feeling of reflection from the windows, diffraction of the light, and light heartiness of the other white walls still in the hallway. I also added a little elephant to the side because of the idea of “throwing” colour, an elephant usually spray water and with the sunlight, it becomes a rainbow, with that the elephant is splashing water, and the rainbow is shown through the drawings and the watercolours on the wall.
The precedents I used where, the Flora Pavilion, the Design School of Nanjing University of the Arts and two; Sunny Park's installation Unwoven Light and the CN Tower.
