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Rangel Maciel Pimenta Paulo Ricardo

314000380 0401682799

Wendy Davis

Jo ElliottDESA 1004: Designing with Surface and Light

FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, DESIGN AND PLANNING

29th August 29th August

29 / 08 / 2014

Rangel Maciel PimentaPaulo Ricardo

Analysis of how light interacts with surfaces in a bathroom

Introduction Light is a very complex phenomenon present in our everyday lives. Objects can be seen by the light they emit, or, more frequently, by the light they reflect. Thus, the overwhelming majority of objects we see when we look around our environment do not emit light of their own. They are visible only because they reemit into our eyes part of the light that falls on their surfaces from some primary source, such as the sun or an electric lamp. Besides reflection, light waves behaviour owns other properties such as transmission, absorption and refraction. Consequently, the look of a material depends on what happens to light striking that material and, most important, we can definitely assert that without light the world around us couldn't be seen (Weisskopf, 1968). Throughout this essay, the theme s approach will be made under the interaction between electric light and different surfaces in a real architectural space, a bathroom. Body The selected space is the bathroom of my residence. It includes a simple plane mirror, a glazed shower enclosure box, a bathtub and a black porcelain flush toilet. The illumination is generated by an electric light bulb. First of all, it is clear that the basic phenomenon associated with the plane mirror is reflection. More specifically, it is a kind of reflection called specular. The mirror has a flat and very homogeneous surface. For objects such as the mirror, with surfaces so smooth, glossy and polished that any hills or valleys on the surface are smaller than the wavelength of light, the law of reflection applies on a large scale, with light bouncing straight off without much diffusion. In face of this, all the light rays striking the mirror in one direction are reflected from it in the same direction, contributing to the surface shine (Meyers, 2006). In other words, the angle of reflection is equals to the angle of incidence, main statement of the law of reflection. Furthermore, the mirror reflects all colours of visible light, preserving much of its original quality subsequent to its contact with the mirror and forming virtual images with the same size as the original object. Secondly, the sliding doors enclosing the shower box is made of glass, which is a transparent material that allows that light pass through it. According to Brandi and Geissmar-Brandi (2001), light is transmitted uniformly with no preferred direction, determining the process of transmission. As a result of this, it is possible to perceive the images thought it. Thus, the glazed doors permit the perfect visualization of who is inside the shower cabin, also because glass can transmit all colours of visible light.

Other transmissive materials, with non-opaque qualities, will refract light. In the phenomenon of refraction, the light passing through the material is bent with the modification of its directionality or path of travel (Szenasy, 1986). The reason of that is the wavelength compression or decompression when light going from one medium to another, as well as change in speed of light. Refraction can be seen in the bathtub with water, where the light is compressed while in the water and gets bent at the surface. Thirdly, this behaviour called absorption is observed in the black flush toilet. As we know, white light contains light of all visible wavelengths, the entire spectrum of the rainbow. Light can be absorbed by a material depending on the makeup of that material on a microscopic level (Meyers, 2006). In the example of the black flush toilet, its dark colouring induce that almost all of the light hitting the surfaces is absorbed, leaving a dark grey/black surface. Finally, it is important to have in mind that usually one of these effects never appears alone. What we see is always a combination of several effects. Therefore, depending on the material and its surface, a large number of effects appear at the surface in incident light. The incident light is partly absorbed, partly reflected and, depending on the material surface, also strayed (Szenasy, 1986). However, the emphasis of the individual portions of reflection, transmission, refraction and absorption strongly depends on the material and surface properties. Conclusion The phenomenon of light and its intrinsic properties of reflection, transmission, refraction and absorption are happening all the time and everywhere. In face of the explanations that were provided in this essay, it is possible to acknowledge how the interaction between light and matter is essential to define how the objects are seen. This analysis in the cited bathroom showed us a specific study about how the surfaces are interacting with the light.

Bibliography Brandi, U., & Geissmar-Brandi, C. (2001). Lightbook: the practice of lighting design. Birkhuser. Meyers, V. (2006). Designing with light. Laurence King Publishing. Szenasy, S. S. (1986). Light: the complete handbook of lighting design. Columbus Books. Weisskopf, V. F. (1968). How light interacts with matter. Scientific American, 219, 60-71.