Light and Mystery in Architecture

Studies suggest that mystery can increase curiosity and interest for certain spaces. This topic becomes highly relevant in current times when contemporary architecture turns its concerns towards sharp vision. The result is a legacy of highly instagramable buildings, that lack the quality of generating emotional engagement and pleasing other senses than vision (Pallasma, 1996). In fact, it is this impossibility to completely understand something in the visual field that characterizes mysterious spaces. Yet, the lack of clear information may cause dichotomous, sometimes overlapped, feelings. From anxiety to expectation of a pleasant reward or of finding a magical secret spot. In both cases, the consequence of mystery is feeling of anticipation and, consequently, willingness to explore the space to overcome that feeling. There seems to be a consensus among the masters of architecture about the power of light and shadow to create mysterious, curious and magic atmospheres. However, the subjectivity involved in the perception of mystery and its associations make it a hard quality to be assessed. This thesis intends to shine a light in the topic and contribute to equip architects and designers with a tool that might help to create more sensitive, engaging multisensorial architecture