Column #2 - Nocturnal History of Architecture

For centuries, the paradigms of architectural theory, discourse and practice were orientated towards the course of the day and the sun. In Vitruvius' De architectura, night is only mentioned in passing; it also does not appear in the treatises of Renaissance thinkers such as Alberti or Palladio. It was not until the 19th and 20th centuries that the invention of artificial light and its spread in both private and public spaces led to the night acquiring a different impact in architecture. This volume is a first attempt to write a chronological history of night-time architecture.