These lattice panels embodyoriginal idea for lighting buildings The idea for lighting buildings, proposed by designer Paul Ruff, turned out to be very relevant for Toronto, about which architectural critic Bentley Mays wrote the following: “Here the low winter sun is harsh and unforgiving, and in summer, although natural light at this time is softer and more diffused, glare can be a real punishment.” Local residents know that large windows facing south create big problems.
Raff handled them in a very interesting way.way: he designed brissols, thin aluminum strips that act as permanent reflectors, and installed them across the facades of a new Toronto home, creating functional screens. He sketched out several similar buildings, collectively called Nice Shades. He believed it made sense to soften and modulate the light before it entered the room. Aluminum blinds could also be an important design feature.
Each panel is a lightweight horizontala strip with a high reflectivity. Their carefully polished surfaces effectively direct light deep into the interior space. Thanks to them, the interior is filled with a dynamic pattern of shadows and highlights that move along the walls, floor and ceiling and change their appearance throughout the day.
Paul Ruff is willing to talk about histhought-out houses with a number of features that allow them to be called examples of eco-design. This includes special cladding that reduces heat loss, effective natural ventilation, and energy-saving windows.
But the architect's focus is onenergy efficiency and environmental concerns do not prevent him from putting design first, as evidenced by the magnificent interior decoration of the residence he has already built, and the wooden components are especially impressive. Looking at the home office presented above, we cannot help but agree with the following conclusion of Bentley Mace: “Counterpoint is an example of modern residential architecture, its most elegant embodiment. Mr. Ruff combines monolithic objects with voids, holes and solid surfaces, but at the same time the transitions he creates from tone to tone and from mood to mood are very deft, confident and not spontaneous.”
Do you think we should take a closer look at this idea, since Canada has a climate very similar to ours?
The idea of lighting buildings in the Counterpoint project from Paul Raff
