In general, we can agree that most human beings enjoy the idea of having natural daylight flowing into their living space. It is especially comforting during the deepest winter months and while such sensations are virtually unknown (and frankly not very desirable) in tropical climates, we too yearn to welcome long shafts of sunlight cutting across our interior in varying dramatic fashion. It sounds superficial for sure but maybe this is a primitive human desire (or simply what we often see in movies…)

When natural daylight enters the interior space, the most unremarkable of things awaken; dusty figures, rows of books, a broken ruler call for attention until the sun shifts or a passing cloud comes in-between.

In our office, which is first and foremost a residential space that was built 10 years ago, every room comes with very large windows–a feature that was considered uncommon in most apartments 30 years ago in Singapore. In a country where the sun’s heat can turn a non-believer religious in just one cloudless afternoon, it’s curious that we don’t seem to blame the windows for this discomfort. On the contrary, the demand for floor to ceiling windows keeps rising in popularity and are often marketed as luxurious!

This is understandable considering how most apartments here rely heavily on the wondrous cool of air-conditioning; some people actually keep the AC on 24/7! This way, they can enjoy sitting in the cooled, recycled air, sun on their face, sipping piping hot tea, forehead barely sweating, until they receive the monthly electricity bill.

Perhaps, we’ve become so used to the sun and its superior presence over us that we have given up on trying to fight against it on our own. Instead, we rely on human-made structures, technology and devices to fend off the Sun’s power in various ways. We begin to “forget” the sun when indoors. At most, it is a daytime lamp in the shape of windows. Surely, this is problematic.

Over the years, we have tried many ways to regulate and adjust the light coming through with a variety of pre-fab curtains, roller blinds, assorted fabrics and solid boards. Many have asked why we have not committed to a proper system but because we often require different lighting conditions to suit the varying tasks within the office–from cutting paper with a sharp blade to product photography–we find it necessary to be constantly adjusting and responding to the sunlight by putting up boards, hanging fabrics and even wearing hats or visors indoors!

This way of dealing with the sunlight streaming into our office may sound terribly unproductive, messy and also make us look a little silly but maybe we can consider these actions as a consistent and direct interaction with the sun; instead of passively letting pre-fixed curtains and blinds determine the brightness of a room, each time we improvise nearby materials and make micro adjustments to regulate the light flowing in, we are taking control of our own comfort.

To live actively alongside the sun is certainly inconvenient but maybe it is also a way of acknowledging its existence; something our overly indoor bodies seem to not consider so much nowadays.