Construction is coming along on a interior renovation of a 1970’s condo in west Boulder.  The existing building was a warren of small spaces with little light or order.  By reconfiguring the stair to run along the space of an existing skylight shaft, the new design bring light into the center of the project and defines the spaces as a referent to that stair.  The rhythm of new openings and light patterns along this stair modulates the rooms throughout the day almost like a giant internal sundial.

A slightly shaky photo taken inside the Pantheon with the light coming through the oculus striking one of the niches on the wall. With the doors closed, this oculus is the only source of natural light in building. Watching the ellipse of light slowly track across the floor and up the wall is endless fascinating. It is one of the few places where you can feel that the earth is rotating relative to the sun, not that the sun is moving around the earth.

Photo by Mark Gerwing, 1988.