Experience of Design and Plastic Light Environment Modelling. Part 1 Space and Light, Urban Environment

The paper is devoted to the history of cooperation between the Department of Architectural Environment Design of the Moscow Architectural Institute and the ITMO University international educational program “Lighting Design”. It reveals the experience of inclusion into the educational process of the ITMO University international educational program “Lighting Design” of a lecture-practical unit dedicated to the modern principles concerning the lighting instruments operation in urban spaces of various sizes and purposes, as well as familiarizing with the basics of urban planning and urban development, types of open public spaces cities and components of urban fabric. The paper discusses a technique for modelling the compositional interaction between light and an urban tissue fragment, taking into account the peculiarities on the light instruments work in urban space characterized by various scales and typology, urban environment of various nature and compositional arrangement. In the process of work, students gained experience in identifying the structure and geometry of public spaces in the urban tissue, creating light routes and scenarios, and forming a system of light dominants. Conclusions are made about the significance of the design-plastic light modelling results and their influence on the design concept formation; the need to correlate the light-composition design search and the urban lighting components of various levels, as well as the meaning of lighting parameters such as the distribution of brightness and direction of luminance flux, the features of diffused and directional light and other components that affect human perception in order to create a multimodal design solution.