The positive light under quarantine

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Master Thesis 2020

Original title: The positive light. Light as an emotional generator and flexible space creator in domestic quarantine.

Abstract: “This Master’s Thesis is a response to the personal willingness of obtaining something positive from the global crisis, caused by Covid-19.
In such a situation, an understanding of the role of light in domiciles is appropriate not only functionally, but emotionally, as new ways of living in space are introduced. Indeed, flexibility has turned to be a claimed characteristic in the house, as well as access to daylight and outdoor spaces. Those aspects are to be considered positive in the near future. Nevertheless, what can be considered as positive light and the extent to which it is related to flexibility is a factor to study. How positive light can be achieved is also a factor to consider. Throughout this project, positive light will be defined under the exceptional circumstances of quarantine. The distribution of a survey, a discussion of architectural theories, as well as a study of positive light in my personal home will be carried out in order to gain an insight into its definition”.

The starting point of this project was a questionnaire distributed in Spain during confinement. As part of the conclusions, the importance of the relationship with the outdoors in a context of domestic quarantine became evident. The first steps in defining what positive light is resulted in part from these general conclusions and a small investigation into the role of the window in the home. In this way, three characteristics of what would be positive light were extracted:

• Standards: it responds to a functional factor, what is needed to carry out different activities.
• Visual comfort: it responds to subjectivity based on perception, which is not necessarily related to standards.
• Dreamery: it refers to the playfulness of light itself, the one can bring us figures from our imaginary.

Once the positive light was defined, I decided to experiment with my own window, in my own circumstances of confinement in Stockholm. One of the common situations in this exceptional way of living the space is the grouping of various activities. I analyzed everything that was happening around my window and experimented with light, depending on the activity it was being developed at that moment and the characteristic of the positive light I wished to highlight.