Mario Botta Ideea of the LIght

Man inhabits a space when he is able to orient himself within it. This leads to man's ability to measure his space and experience its ori-entation and its direction as well as place it in relation to the cycles of the sun and the seasons and acquire an awareness of that space and his inhabiting that space. Martin Heidegger Botta believes that man can understand and negotiate his space more comfortably whether it be a building in a city or an interior space within a building, if there is a point of reference that can be identied in relation to the area. This belief is heavily inuenced by the German Phi-losopher who Botta often quotes when speaking on this subject, this 7 could also be attributed to Kahn who designed his buildings in order to avail of the natural light which he has been renowned for his ability to crcreate dramatic scenes within a space, altering the experience of the building from day to night and in the changing of the seasons from summer through winter.What guiding principles do you follow during the design phase?I never design with pure forms, but with forms of space. I start o from a topographical idea, of orientation, of trying to understand how light draws spatial limits. The light I have in mind generates space: it has to give me the axes of reference, concentric points for creation. The next phase is the pursuit of order. In the complex process of design (synthe-sis of functional and static elements, of coordinates, borders etc), the organizational chart of these spaces has to nd an order. And I wont nd peand peace until I reach it.( Mario Botta -THE ANTIQUITY OF NEW: INTERVIEW WITH ARCHITECT MARIO BOTTA)