Week 10: Campus Lighting

Hey everyone. So, I realized this week that I love walking around our campus at night. After I finished with crew last night I was walking from the Little Theatre to the shuttle stop at UTC and I noticed how much beautiful lighting there is on our campus, particularly in the area surrounding the Barclay. I was walking down the steps by the flagpoles and I looked up at the tree in front of me, and its overhanging branches were glowing with a brilliant white light. Since I had just left the Herbert Siguenza Project, it kind of reminded me of the angel (played by Darlene:) and for those of you who are going to see the show you'll understand what I'm refering to) and I couldn't stop staring at it for a moment. At first I couldn't figure out where the source was coming from, but as I looked around, I noticed that there is a white light in the middle of the bushes to the left of the staircase. I suppose it's meant to keep the stairs lit enough so people don't trip when they're walking up and down them at night, but i thought the white light it cast on the trees was beautiful and inspiring.

Also, I love the lights that line the bridge to UTC. On either side of the bridge there are rectangles cut into the cement where lights rest. In front of each light is a set of bars, which casts really cool shadows on the ground. The rest of the light shoots out across the bottom of the bridge and, from the top of the staircase I mentioned earlier, it creates a lovely pathway that really caught my attention. The way the shadow and light alternates almost makes it seem like a staircase itself. I did take a picture but I forgot that I am not at my parent's house with my parent's computer and my laptop doesn't have a slot that I can put my camera's memory card into:/ So unfortunately I can't share it with you. But if you ever walk past the Langson at night, take a peak over at the bridge and you will see what I mean. The lighted pathway it creates is brilliant, yet almost creepy in a sense too. Everything behind it is dark in comparison, and it looks like it suddenly drops off altogether in the back.

Finally, one last thing I noticed. I can't help but stare at the lights at the top of the Barclay each time I pass it. The upper part of the building has washes of purple and green light shining up on its walls and for some reason I just find it beautiful. I've noticed that a lot of buildings in this area use similar lighting on their walls. Just take a look at the restaurants at UTC or at the Spectrum. The architectural lighting in these places all rely on lights placed on the walls that are covered so that they cast a wash of light going up and one going down. As with the buildings at UTC, this creates an hourglass shape on the walls. I think it's interesting how many building use this and it's a really neat effect.

Ok, I just wanted to point out that we don't have to look far to find interesting sources of light; we are surrounded by it at this campus. We just have to look up once in a while so we can really notice what we usually walk right by.

Good luck with finals everyone and have a great Spring Break!!!