In Praise of Shadows

A small yet engaging alternative to the traditional Western image of cleanliness being next to godliness.

This has been an important book for my career. I’ve read it multiple times—it continues to be meaningful and I don't expect that will change. Shadows are more important than objects because they enter the realm of the mysterious. The white space is more important than the stroke of the pen. Shadows are the silent reason that objects are recognized; they give them shape. Shadows represent the soul of a place or object. To say it another way, the space between combatants is where the battle takes place.

This book was a touchstone for me when I was designing Shadowboxx, on Lopez Island in the San Juans. The house’s shutters and doors create layers that can either protect or expose, and the moving parts create a drama of shadow and light. It’s really hard to capture that in a photograph—you really have to be in the space to understand it.

The lighting designer’s basic text.

As light had always been the material of architecture for me, and about which I was increasingly passionate, this book appealed because it presented the subtlety of light’s absence.