About the “Constructive” Methodological System of the Illuminated Environment Visual Assessments

The author’s structural and methodological scheme for the “construction” of visual assessments of the illuminated environment and the architectural objects forming it is proposed. The scheme is based on four basic elements forming a cross of two pairs of objective factors: vertically that is two states (two hypostases) of the visual environment (at day and at night), horizontally, that is, two variants of the large-scale spatial organization that is exterior (open) and interior (closed). Visual images created by daylight and electric lighting on the same architectural form differ significantly in many ways, sometimes beyond recognition. As a result, emotional ratings in the range of “minor-major” are obtained. Daylighting gives us two variants of visual images of any object – the image of a sunny day (major) and the image of a cloudy day (minor). Electric lighting forms at least three types of visual images: associatively sunny, alternative counter-image, and hybrid, combining in one way or another the signs of the first two. It is recommended in scientific works on architecture and lighting design to designate these initial factors if they give a visual assessment of an architectural or even landscape object by any illumination.