Andreas Kipar on LUCE: Landscape and Light Design

The conversation with Andreas Kipar starts from a memory of his youth at the Parco Nord in Milan, one of the most exciting experiences of urban greenery creation over the last fifty years in the Milanese area. “Seen from above, the park was the only oasis of darkness in the entire Milanese metropolitan area, which was getting brighter and brighter year after year. At that time, there were no limits related to glare and no regulations limiting the so-called light pollution. The debate at the time was ahead of its time. Since the theme of landscape and green area lighting is a philosophical theme, I would dare to say: Is light to be considered a companion of ordinary lighting, or should these natural spaces be left to the lights of day and night, of twilight and sunset, of clouds or a blue sky? Is ordinariness preferable to authenticity? I believe the theme of light is played between its fullness and its total absence. It is in the vibration of these two extremes that light takes on its value.”

This dutiful premise by Kipar helps us better understand the point of a landscape architect struggling with the delicate theme of the presence of light in open spaces. Years later, new considerations regarding cultural attitudes emerged.