Bene Office Furniture

Architecture of the Night

"Architecture of the Night" presents a comprehensive history of architectural illumination in the 20th century for the first time and takes a close look at the most important artistic, architectural and technical examples, debates and protagonists. This catalogue presents the most important projects in numerous full-colour photographs.
Around 1900 electric illumination concepts were important attractions at large-scale industry expos. Shortly after that the concepts used at such expos were applied to an urban context. In American cities, the façades of skyscrapers were transformed into bright and colourful symphonies of light. In Europe artists, such as Fernand Léger or Laszlo Moholy Nagy, experimented with innovative building illumination or designed abstract illumination designs for cityscapes. Extensive debates, forgotten today, accompanied this transitory art form, and many descriptions convey the diversity of style, colour combinations and special effects. Engineers, artists and architects discuss coloured light sequences and the properties of materials, how architectural elements cast shadows and the placement of spotlights. An exciting history of light architecture from 1900 to the present day with contributions from knowledgeable experts and fascinating photographs.