Within the vast field of architecture, where form, material, and space combine, light is the intangible conductor conducting the intricate orchestra of sense experience. Fewer-than-few architects can wield it with the precision and creativity demonstrated by Peyman Kiani Falavarjani. As innovative Architect of modern style, Kiani doesn’t introduce light into space; instead, he creates space through the agency of light, building space beyond the physical plane. This knowledge of illumination has led Kiani to the coveted LIT Lighting Design Award for 2020, demonstrating the ability to combine light and architecture in ways that essentially reshape the concept of space interaction.
Central to his luminous philosophical context is the Lotus Amphitheater, the prime example of outstanding convergence of light design and architectural narration. Taking inspiration from the grandeur of the Safavid era, the amphitheater is the sanctuary where history, culture, and technology merge. This setting empowers light to rise beyond the level of illumination, instead operating as narration tool, recalling the deeper spiritual and artistic depth of the Persian legacy.
The exterior facade, described by its entrancing form placed over a reflective pool, radiates light similar to the appearance of a heavenly flower during the evening. Combining artisan tiles drawn from Safavid designs, along with transparent glass elements and the deliberate disposition of linear LEDs and beam light, the building is taken into the level of luminous jewel, its reflection over the pool intensifying its heavenly nature. This architectural experience moves beyond physical form, reaching the level where light, water, and ambiance continuously engage each other.
Within the walls of the building, the experience is taken to the next level. In this setting, Kiani illustrates the ability to balance the interaction between daylight and light from the building envelope using nearly magical finesse. Placed centrally, the oculus is a conduit for daylight, projecting light onto the stage for the sole purpose of providing illumination. This architectural detail is heavily drawn from classical architectural ideals, where light wasn’t only revered for its functional benefits, such as illuminating the interior, warming rooms, and lightening activities, so much as for its inherent artistic worth.
Kiani’s proficiency goes far beyond mere love for light. With the transition from daylight into the evening, man-made light takes over, essentially projecting the amphitheater from one filled by daylight light into one that is much like a magical evening setting. Surfaces adorned by exquisitely patterned light screens bearing Safavid designs send soft golden light radiating from them, their patterns mirroring the fine workmanship associated with Middle Eastern carpets. Dynamic light and shade interaction, made possible by the tiered benches, projects the hall into one lively entity, one projecting structural form similar to the nature of music.
Kiani’s approach goes beyond mere visual awareness; it involves an emotional connection. His settings not only light the space; they create the sense of connection. He has the intimate knowledge that light is the metaphor for remembrance, where color or shades of light can bring the guests’ memories for the bygone moment or alternate setting. In the Lotus Amphitheater, light plays the double role of narrator and narration, playing the significant part for each viewer in the very intimate, collectively significant sense.
While it is true to categorize Peyman Kiani as an architect, this categorization can also fall short. He is also a celebrated sculptor, an artisan of the atmosphere, and an artist for whom the medium is not necessarily stone, glass, or wood, but light. In an age where architecture all too often prioritizes the visual spectacle, his work is a poignant reminder that the most influential design has nothing necessarily to do with the visual, and everything to do with the felt. Employing the medium of light, Kiani goes beyond the mere building of space; he conducts symphonies, and through their luminous presence, find ourselves not only observers, but constituent parts of the vast architecture.
Designers: Peyman Kiani, Nima Bavardi, Parisa Biriya
Photo Credit: Mohammad Ali Rezaeiyan
