Ambiguity and exposure: darkness as material in visionary architecture

Abstract

Light and its adjunct ocular phenomena – darkness, cannot be isolated from a discussion regarding materiality in architecture. The multiple appearances of the material depend entirely upon the quality of light or lack of light. Thise paper explores unique material attributes of darkness and the way they translate into emotional and psychological concepts. These include ideas related to dreams, identity, revolution, the experimental, and dystopia. Thise paper utilizes visionary architecture propositions as the bases for their analysis and exploration. Darkness encompasses unwanted misinterpretations, exasperating roadblocks, and hidden perils. Conversely, darkness provides a nurturing space for resolving unresolved matters, breaking societal taboos, and confronting internal struggles that both torment and ignite the human soul. The absence of visibility does not diminish comprehension, but instead reveals new perspectives and emotions that remain hidden to the visible world. Visionary architecture, often unrealized and occasionally impossible to construct, encompasses provocative architectural ideas that challenge or offer alternatives to the prevailing norms. It provides architects with the freedom to express themselves in experimental and inquisitive ways, distinct from the act of constructing or writing theoretical texts. Liberated from the constraints of practicality, it opens avenues for exploring human emotions and contemplating futuristic possibilities. However, by introducing ambiguous realities, it also unveils new prospects for innovative concepts in tangible architecture. Visionary architecture uses darkness to explore conceptual understandings which the concrete cannot explain. Drawing on multiple visionary architecture examples, supported by relevant theoretical interpretations, the paper articulates the typology of darkness within the realm of visionary architecture. The paper contends that the use of darkness is imperative today no less than at any time in the past. Although contemporary technology can decipher mysteries of the universe and the body, still the ambiguity of creativity, emotion, eroticism, the unfinished, and death can be reconciled mainly by the use of darkness.