Architecture Update: Light touch

A REPORT by the Royal Fine Art Commission this week on building illumination claims that poorly designed and directed lighting is blotting out the stars and causing 'sky glow' or 'light pollution'. The report, Lighten Our Darkness, warns that unless the situation is reversed, 'the views of the stars wil be lost . . . we will have allowed it to be taken away from us without noticing, just as we allow the air to be polluted by smoke. A whole dimension of human experiences will have been spirited away.'

The commission wants planning authorities to adopt strict lighting strategies and says better illumination would improve Buckingham Palace, the Cabinet Office, the Treasury, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Offices in London. The report praises Harrods, lit by 11,000 light bulbs, and the Lloyd's building in the City of London.