Light is not simply a technical factor. It is design material, an emotional element, an ethical principle. It is what defines space and makes it perceivable and liveable. This is one of the guiding threads in the thinking of Giovanni Traverso, an architect from Vicenza who has been working for years on an idea of architecture in symbiosis with the environment and the natural rhythms of man. A vision in which light, both natural and artificial, plays a central role and is anything but accessory.
We interviewed him to bear witness to an approach we share and aim to strongly promote: to conceive light not as a mere functional tool, but as a form of care for the space and for those who inhabit it.
Reversible architecture
In the projects signed by the Traverso-Vighy studio, architecture is conceived as a living organism, reversible, assembled in parts using local materials and advanced construction techniques, yet with a light environmental footprint on the territory. By collaborating with an economic fabric of highly specialised micro-firms, the studio experiments with dry assembly techniques of predefined components, engineering the architectural envelope digitally.
Light fits into this balance not as a scenic effect, but as an integrated and conscious presence. The design starts from this element from the very beginning, with an almost craftsmanlike attention to how light interacts with surfaces, orientations, volumes.
The value of context
For Traverso, context is the first form of design, the driving force behind every choice: sun exposure, winds, natural shading. The result is an architecture that respects and amplifies the qualities of the site, optimising the available resources.
“The context influences the design choices. Context means exposure and orientation to the sun, because passive buildings, like the ones we design, have to make the best use of the sun throughout the seasons”
In this scenario, artificial light does not intervene to correct or cancel natural light, but to complement it, adapt to it, follow its intelligence. LED technology and control systems now make it possible to work by integration and not by replacement, keeping alive that relationship with the environment that remains the foundation of any truly sustainable project.
Light for well-being
One of the themes that emerges most from Traverso's work is the need to restore a connection between the human being and circadian rhythms. Living or working in spaces where light changes, modulates, follows the cycle of the day and the seasons is now a design priority, not an aesthetic optional extra.
It is here that artificial light must make a leap: from a simple extension of the day to a language capable of stimulating, calming, accompanying. A light measured not in lumens, but in perceptual quality, visual comfort, harmony with the context.
"One of the most important challenges is to make artificial light increasingly resemble natural light so that it can gradually replace it"
Spidi Showroom, Meledo, Vicenza, 2006
Culture of light
It is clear that to act in this direction a paradigm shift is needed, and not only among designers. We need a conscious supply chain, made up of companies, technicians, designers and craftsmen who share the same language.
Traverso draws attention to the lighting world's continuous chase towards technologies that lead to ever greater product efficiency. Incredibly, however, instead of using these technologies to produce less, consume less and make the planet more sustainable, they are used to produce even more light, triggering a harmful competition that neglects the real needs of our visual system and negatively impacts the sky and ecosystems.
"I believe that a change of point of view is needed: from light that is only quantitatively assessed to meet efficiency parameters, to qualitative light that prioritises well-being and modulation"
It is in that invisible dialogue between light, architecture and the human body that the true value of contemporary design is at stake.
It is therefore not surprising that Traverso's thinking overlaps with a sensibility shared by those who, like Simes, have made light their material. It is in this shared space that enduring architecture is built, because it is capable of taking care of those who live in it.
“A space can be built with light, because without light there is no perception of space”
TVZEB, Zero energy building, Sede dello studio traverso-vighy, Vicenza, 2012
To read the full interview with architect Traverso and to explore other topics of lighting culture download the second issue of SIMES MAGAZINE.
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