Zenithal Light

by Elias Torres

Very few doctoral dissertations make for great books, books that readers architect Elias Torresís Zenithal Light is one of them. This album of thousands of photographs collected over years of research and travel, carefully classified, sometimes more than ten to a page, catalogues the tremendous variety of spaces that generate zenithal light, sunlight captured filtering downward from domes, skylights, towers and the tops of alleyways. Torres begins with intimate interior spaces and concludes in open city streets; in every case the effect is beautiful. The book's final chapter continues his playful codification, offering schematic drawings to accompany photographs of 11 cardboard boxes Torres filled with a wide variety of familiar, funny and strange objects and pierced to allow viewers to observe the effects of the zenithal light filtering through their interiors. A die-cut foldout cover allows readers to demonstrate the property themselves.

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2006

Reviews

[GeorgeMarshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I entirely agree with the other review. This is a wonderful book- one of my favourites- and an exceptional study of the use of downward natural light in architectural interors. This is a key aspect of architecture: as le Corbusier would say, Architecture is "the masterly, correct and magnificent play of masses brought TOGETHER IN LIGHT” and I'm amazed that I have never seen any other book on this essential aspect of lighting. Hundreds of examples are intelligently chosen from across the whole history of architecture, with excellent photographs and particular attention to the Baroque. My only criticism would be that, whilst individually referenced, there is no central index to these examples, and this makes it hard to use the book as a reference for planning field trips. I do hope that Tores brings it back into print with a mainstream publisher- it's insanely expensive now.