In collaboration with:
Chair of Construction Heritage and Preservation, Prof. Dr. Silke Langenberg, Reto Wasser
Chair of History and Theory of Architecture, Prof. Dr. Maarten Delbeke, Linda Stagni

Light is aimed to give more visibility and a feeling of security. As the glare of the light differs from one lantern to another, the position of public lighting is crucial for the nightlife of a city. The presence of public lighting has been increasing in the urban space in the past few years to the point of profoundly changing our habits at night. But the energy crisis urgently asks cities to be more careful with the consumption and one big gesture that has emerged from it is the extinction of public lighting at night.

One public lighting reduction that can be observed in Zurich is the one under the Hardbrücke. In a scenario where worse case, public lighting under the bridge had to be turned off to save energy, how can we keep light but reduce the consumption?

What happens below the Hardbrücke is as complex as above it (to assure security for cars that drive on the bridge, a precise intensity and amount of light is needed; it is here difficult to make any concession). Restaurants, cinemas or car washes are a form of light. These activities are not lampposts but act like they are. Currently these sources slightly participate in the lighting of the street but could be emphasized to replace public lighting completely. Small vehicles and pedestrians can learn to embrace the dark a little more to welcome new ways of seeing in the night. This behavior leads to a greater appreciation of light sources and to treat them as the beginning of an architectural form.

After carefully looking at what was made visible in the night under the Hardbrücke, the observations have been used as a model to develop a bread production that shares its light with the surroundings in similar ways. It is divided into 5 key moments of the production: delivery, storage, oven, confection and sale. They are articulated to unfold light from inside towards outside. It tries to reveal the potential of light through openings, reflections and transparency with support of the book “Watermarks, An essay on Venice” written by Joseph Brodsky.

Bringing a bread production back in the city would allow to replace public lighting but most importantly to reduce the consumption of energy by moving an existing light somewhere needed instead of creating a new one. This project imagines a future with less energy but a greater control of light that allows interior and exterior spaces to communicate through cracks. It tries to give more space to private light to mark the urban space with what emanates from within.

While light was long seen as an unlimited resource, we are now facing a situation where we would have to learn again to live with less light. It is needed and urgent to rethink the night before public lighting will be gone.