Recently ArchiPro asked us to comment on Sunlight in New Zealand (This is another obsession architects are constantly discussing and describing). Link to the article.

1. How would you describe New Zealand's sunlight? 

While at architecture school, I had a professor who asserted there were two distinctive responses to light manifesting in art of the Renaissance.The Florentine school were interested in “line” due to the harshness of their sunlight and shadow. They correspondingly became adept and fascinated with sculpture and strong gutsy line drawings. The Venetian school were interested in “tone” due to the misty atmospheres of Venice and became experts in painting, glass and fabric design.  
In New Zealand, I would describe our light as characteristically diffuse, luminous and crystalline. Over summer we do have extremely sharp and “Florentine" moments at the zenith with a real sense of clarity and purity. But this is probably the exception rather than the rule. 

2. What key suggestions you have for making a house feel sunny and warm all year long?

 In classical times, the Romans planned with an inherent knowledge of light manifesting in their impluviums within the Villas of Pompei, their occuli in the Pantheon, as well as its smaller and less grandiose sisters. They applied these tools to create ambient light even in densely populated areas. Today this takes shape in the cities as skylights, low level windows and as well as small courtyards that pool with light connecting a home to the environment.In the landscape, pavilions with deep eaves allow for an all season panoramic enjoyment of the sun and diffuse daylight most consistent with traditional Chinese and Japanese architecture.  

3. What key considerations and research do you undertake when examining how the light might interact with one of your house designs? 

We design for the environment, often to maximise sun in the winter and maximise shade in the summer. Typically this involves planning  deep eaves interlinked with courtyards, light shafts and skylights. We also research materiality, investigating the effects of light onto surface texture and the substance of material. As an example, travertine marble or onyx have a luminosity beyond the surface that creates a sense of resonance and a subtle glow.  

4. With Northland Lake House, what is the concept behind the outdoor rooms and extending eaves, and the way you've covered it with this awesome hovering roof, incorporating lit cubes in the ceiling, and ensuring you draw light into the home at the same time? 

The roof wraps around a central fireplace core (that braces the structure) and then the roof “lifts off”. Free from the main part of the existing house, this gives a sense of shelter without compromising the view of the lake and landscape. The Russian constructivist architect, El Lissitzky was famous for his Wolkenbugel, “cloudball” project. In simple terms it is, “Look no hands”. Light in this project also filters in a similar manner down to a lower level bedroom courtyard between the deck and a bridge that is set free from the structure. The illuminated cubes in the ceiling are onyx, a warm coloured translucent stone, they have a clear plastic roof over them and are also backlit for nocturnal diffuse ambience.  

 5. Have you encountered any surprises when planning around sunlight? 

Mechanically, we typically undertake sun studies at 9am, 12noon, 3pm and 5pm on the equinox, and the shortest/longest day. We do this with drawings rather than using animation, as it gives us an opportunity to interrogate the digital model. An interpolation of the result gives us the general ambience of the effect of sunlight. Water is always a surprise and while we have deliberately designed reflection pools in some of our houses, our coastal projects often have an activated dynamism as a result of the coastal environment.